Iran urges Pakistan to help catch "terrorists"

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged his Pakistani counterpart in a telephone call on Monday to help hunt down those behind an attack on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that killed 42 people.

Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari stressed the "necessity of joint cooperation in setting up a timetable with the intention of confronting and eradicating criminal terrorists," Iran's IRNA news agency reported.

"Iran and Pakistan have enjoyed brotherly ties ... but the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan would call for the Pakistani government's assistance in the speedy apprehension of these terrorists," Ahmadinejad said.

"Confronting criminal terrorists is a necessity and must take place with joint cooperation and the setting of a timetable," he told Zardari. The IRNA report did not give details on what kind of timetable he had in mind.

Zardari said terrorists had also committed many crimes against Pakistan and that was why it had begun "massive operations" against them, IRNA reported.

Iran has in the past said members of the Sunni insurgent Jundollah (God's soldiers) group, which Iranian media say claimed Sunday's bombing in southeastern Iran near Pakistan, are operating from Pakistani territory.

Ahmadinejad was on Sunday quoted as saying "some security agents" in Pakistan were cooperating with the elements behind the attack. The head of the Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that Jundollah had ties with U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence, and said there would have to be "retaliatory measures" against the Americans and British. [nLJ16675]

Pakistan has condemned what it killed a "ghastly act of terrorism" in an area near its border with the Islamic Republic and said it was not involved in terrorist activities.

Some analysts believe Jundollah has evolved through shifting alliances with various parties that saw it as a tool against Iran, including the Taliban and Pakistan's ISI intelligence service.