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Pastimes : WORLD WAR III -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (76)	8/29/1998 10:31:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 765

Iran Troops To Near Afghan Border AFSHIN VALINEJAD Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - About 70,000 elite Iranian soldiers plan to hold exercises near the border with Afghanistan, where Tehran claims that the Taliban militia is holding 47 Iranians, a military official said today. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will hold the maneuvers, code named Ashura 3, within the next few days, said the IRGC commander, Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi. He said preliminary exercises already have started and will be followed by the main maneuvers, which will last for three days. The guard is an elite paramilitary fighting force of about 120,000 ground, air and navy personnel. The maneuvers will be the largest this year and the first held near the border since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, he said. Iran has accused the Taliban militia, which controls most of the country, of detaining 47 Iranians since they captured the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Aug. 8. The detainees allegedly include 11 diplomats, one journalist and 35 truck drivers. The Taliban say they know nothing about the Iranian diplomats, but admit to holding about 30 Iranians whom they suspect of arming their opponents. ''It is natural that our maneuvers are not unrelated to the recent Afghan affairs,'' Safavi said in a news conference attended for the first time by foreign as well as local reporters. Last week, IRGC troops were deployed on the border with Afghanistan to monitor the movement of forces fighting the civil war there. Also last week, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani warned that Iran might resort to force to free the Iranians. Pakistan is widely believed to provide arms and other support to the Taliban. Iran is suspected of backing the northern-based opposition to the Taliban.