Al-Qaida linked group kills Iranian soldier
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian official says an al-Qaida affiliated group has killed one of five Iranian soldiers it recently kidnapped.
Ali Asghar Mirshekari, a deputy provincial governor for security affairs in Sistan-Baluchestan, was quoted Monday by the official IRNA news agency as saying that the only officer among the captives was killed. The other 4 were conscripts doing their 2-year compulsory military service.
They were kidnapped by the Jaish al-Adl militant group last month outside Sarbaz, a town near Iran's border with Pakistan.
They had demanded release of its members jailed in Iran and the release of al-Qaida-linked rebels arrested in Syria.
Jaish al-Adl supports rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.
