Iranian agents secure release of kidnapped diplomat

Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niaki

Heshmatollah Attarzadeh Niaki, an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in November 2008 in Pakistan was rescued by Iranian agents in what the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence described as “a complicated intelligence operation.”

Heshmatollah Attarzadeh was taken hostage by gunmen in Peshawar in northeast of Pakistan in 2008 while his Pakistani bodyguard was gunned down during the attack.

Pakistan Interior Minister at the time maintained that local Taleban forces were responsible for the kidnapping; however, Taleban did not take responsibility for the incident.

Pakistani diplomats in Iran had assured Iranian foreign ministry that Pakistan would deal with the perpetrators of this act.

Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Heydar Moslehi declared that Iran had handled the problem of releasing Attarzadeh itself because Pakistan had failed to do so.

This operation was preceded with another successful operation by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry last month in which Iran captured Abdulmalik Rigi, leader of Jundullah, an armed Sunni opposition group in the southeast border of Iran. Pakistani government claimed they had assisted Iran in the operation while Iran insisted that its own intelligence agents accomplished the task.