Iran 'detains' Iraqi coastguards

[kpete]

Iran 'detains' Iraqi coastguards


Nine Iraqi coastguards have been detained by Iran after a clash on the Shatt al-Arab waterway which marks the Iran-Iraq border, officials say.

Basra Governor Muhammad al-Waili said the Iranian Navy had attacked the coastguards after they boarded a ship believed to be smuggling oil.

Mr Waili said one Iraqi coastguard was killed, but this was not confirmed by other Iraqi officials.

The Iranian embassy in Baghdad has denied any knowledge of the affair.

"The reports of this incident are untrue," a spokeswoman for Iranian Charge d'Affaires Hasan Kazemi-Qomi said.

Nevertheless, the commander of the Iraqi regional border force, Brig-Gen Abbas Musawi, called on Iran to free the men immediately.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4619604.stm

[The White Tree]

1. What's that music I hear playing....

It's the end of the world as we know it,

It's the end of the world as we know it,

It's the end of the world as we know it,

Somehow I don't feel so fine.