TEHRAN, Jan 3: Iran’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday the members of a border patrol abducted in the southeast of the country are in Pakistan and Tehran is negotiating with Islamabad for their release.

“It is said they have been transferred to Pakistan and we are talking to the Pakistanis, using all in our power to return them safe and sound,” foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

According to a report telecast by Dubai-based television Al Arabiya, on Saturday, a spokesman of Jundallah (Soldiers of Allah), claimed the ‘movement’ had kidnapped nine Iranian soldiers in the Saravan region, close to the border with Pakistan.

Mr Asefi did not specify who the kidnappers were, but said “interior ministry forces were also pursuing the issue”.— AFP