A Sunni group says it has killed one of nine Iranian soldiers it kidnapped along the Pakistani border in December. The kidnappers' announcement was contained in a videotape aired on Thursday on Arab television. The kidnappers, who identified themselves as Jundullah (Soldiers of God), claimed the killing was in response to Iran's "violations against Sunni figures in a number of Iranian towns," the video said. A group of four armed men appeared standing behind a kneeling hostage as one of them read a statement threatening to kill the other captives.The Iranian authorities confirmed that a group calling itself Jundullah had admitted kidnapping nine Iranian soldiers near the Pakistani border. But an Iranian intelligence ministry statement described the kidnappers as a local bandit group and said the hostages had been taken across the border into Pakistan's unruly Baluchistan province.
| ... where their heads can be cut off at liesure. |