Four abducted Iranian soldiers were recovered from a “transitioning hideout” during an operation in Balochistan’s Chagai district, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement, security forces conducted a successful intelligence-based operation (IBO) at Amori in Chagai district, about 3-4 kilometres away from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“Terrorists of proscribed organisation were reported to have entered Pakistan from Afghanistan side along with abducted Iranian soldiers,” the military’s media wing said.

“After [an] exchange of fire, 4 Iranian soldiers [were] recovered from a transitioning hideout,” it said, adding that the soldiers are being handed over to Iranian authorities.

In November last year, Pakistani security forces had safely recovered five of the 12 Iranian border guards who were abducted by militants the previous month from Lulakdan area near the Pak-Iran border.

Jaish al-Adl, a terrorist group operating in the region, had claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.

Details were sketchy at the time of abduction and Iran has since twice revised the number of the abducted border force, including some from Iran’s vaunted Revolutionary Guard.

Following the abduction, Iran’s top military commander Maj Gen Mohammad Hossein Bagheri had phoned Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and requested him to intensify efforts for search and rescue of the kidnapped Iranian border guards.

Moreover, the Foreign Office had also pledged to offer all possible assistance to locate the missing Iranian security personnel.

“Both militaries, under a joint mechanism established since last year, are working to ascertain the whereabouts of the [missing] Iranian guards. The Director General Military Operations from the two sides are coordinating actions in this regard,” read the FO statement.

“No effort will be spared to assist our Iranian brothers in finding the missing guards,” it had said.