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Bakhtiar Killing Suspects Held Briefly

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<i> Associated Press</i>

The day before the body of former Iranian Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar was discovered, police briefly detained two Iranians now suspected in the killing, police sources said Tuesday.

The two men--believed to be members of a hit squad sent to assassinate Bakhtiar--tried to enter Switzerland last Wednesday with forged visas. They were turned over to French authorities, who released them because they had valid French visas, according to French police sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The next day, Bakhtiar, 76, and his top aide were found dead at Bakhtiar’s home in a western Paris suburb. Authorities said they had been dead since Tuesday, Aug. 6, the day the two men and a third man visited Bakhtiar.

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Police are seeking the two Iranians--Mohammed Azadi, 31, and Ali Rad Vakili, 32--and the third man, Farqoum Boyer Ahmadi, for the murders of Bakhtiar and his secretary.

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