6 soldiers kidnapped in southeast Iran

TEHRAN, Sept. 18 (MNA) -- Five soldiers and a bank employee were kidnapped in Sistan-Baluchestan Province on Thursday.

Armed men stopped a bus traveling from Chabahar to Zahedan and took six people hostage, an official of the Sistan-Baluchestan Governor’s Office said on Friday.

Jalal Sayah added that the culprits will probably demand a ransom and said Iran’s security forces are seriously pursuing the case.

The terrorist group Jundullah has claimed responsibility for the act and said they have transferred the hostages to an outpost in the mountains of Sistan-Baluchestan, the Tabnak new agency reported on Friday.

The group has also demanded the unconditional release of Jundullah members currently in prison in Iran in return for the release of the six hostages.

The group said that film footage of the hostages will soon be shown on international television networks.

Jundullah’s former ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was arrested by Iran last February and hanged in June.

Jundullah has carried out a series of bombings, assassination attempts, and other terrorist attacks in Iran.