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Iranian Sunni cleric says government asked for help to free soldiers

Iran's most prominent Sunni cleric spoke by phone to Al-Monitor about his role in the release of the border guards kidnapped by Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl and the state of Sunnis in Iran.
MIRJAVEH, IRAN:  An Iranian soldier stands guard on a mound built to prevent drug trafficking 02 December 2003 in the Mirjaveh point where the borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan meet. But despite the bulldozed trenches and mounds of dust and the string of machine-gun posts ought to be enough to put off all but the most suicidal drug traffickers hoping to enter Iran, officials taking the UN anti-drugs tsar on the tour admitted they were losing the war on drugs.     AFP PHOTO/Behrouz MEHRI   (Photo cre

After nearly two months in captivity, four Iranian soldiers were released April 4 by the militant Islamist group Jaish al-Adl.

The news was a surprise to the many who had followed their story. The guards were captured in February on the Iran-Pakistan border while sleeping in a tent. Iranian and Pakistani authorities have traded accusations of negligence ever since the kidnapping.

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