The Iranian officials said Monday that a group of Afghan and Pakistani nationals were arrested while they were enroute to Syria or Iraq in a bid to join the Islamic State fighters.
Iran’s Interior Minister Abul Reza Rahmani Fazli said the group was looking to cross Iran but were stopped and arrested by security forces.
He did not disclose further information regarding the exact number of Afghan and Pakistani nationals arrested by Iranian security forces.
This comes as recent reports suggested that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has started distribution of pamphlets in bordering regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, in a bid to increase it’s influence in South Asian region.
According to reports, the booklets titled Fata (victory) have also been distributed in Peshawar city as well as in Afghan refugee camps on the outskirts of the city.
ISIS called on the local population for supporting the group’s struggle for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.
The distribution of pamphlets comes as a number of hardline groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan have already announced support for the group headed by Afghan Taliban.
Insurgents belonging to a faction of the Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have said they cosider to join the Ilamic State militants and continue to their insurgency attacks against the Afghan government, event after the NATO forces leave Afghanistan by the end of this year.
Hezb-e-Islami fighters have confirmed their links with the Islamic State and insist that they would keep fighting until Sharia Law was established not just in Afghanistan, but throughout the world.
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