Conflicting Reports on the 'Captivity of 18 Foreign Quds Force Personnel' by Jaish al-Adl

While the Jaish al-Adl group has released images of individuals it claims are '18 foreign mercenaries affiliated with the terrorist organization Quds Force,' the public relations officer of the Quds Headquarters has denied this news. Qasem Hassan-Zadeh, the public relations officer of the Quds Headquarters, stated on Tuesday, April 1, to the 'Arman Kerman' website that this news 'published by the terrorist group Jaish al-Adl and Al Arabiya network has no validity and no clashes have occurred in this area.' Seyed Baqer Hosseini, a representative from Zabol and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also denied this news, telling the 'House of the Nation' website that 'upon inquiry from provincial officials, it was determined that this alleged kidnapping is nothing more than a claim.' Meanwhile, Jaish al-Adl has posted images on its blog and Facebook page showing individuals it claims are '18 foreign mercenaries affiliated with the terrorist organization Quds Force on their way to a Quds Force training base in Nasratabad.' Jaish al-Adl added that with 'complete security and intelligence oversight of the area,' it will not allow the 'regime to use foreign mercenaries for its terrorist purposes beyond the operational limits of the organization.' This group has declared the location of the captivity of these 18 individuals to be the Nasratabad area in the northwest of Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province. In recent years, in multiple operations by the Jaish al-Adl militia group, dozens of military and security personnel of the Islamic Republic and several civilians have been killed. Jaish al-Adl claims it fights for 'the rights of the oppressed Sunni Baluch people,' but Iran, along with the United States and several other countries, considers this group 'terrorist.'