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Jundallah suicide bombers Mohammad Rigi and Abdul Baaset Rigi. |
A Sunni terrorist group killed 20 people and wounded more than 100 in a suicide attack that targeted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps at a mosque in the southeastern city of Zahedan.
Jundallah, the People’s Resistance Movement of Iran, claimed the double suicide attack that took place at the Zahedan Jame Mosque, and said the attack was revenge for the execution of its former leader, Abdul Malik Rigi.
Two suicide bombers, identified by Jundallah as Mohammad Rigi and Abdul Baaset Rigi, detonated just minutes apart at the Zahedan mosque.
Jundallah, in a statement obtained by The Long War Journal, described the attack as “an unparalleled operation” that was “able to send tremors into the heart of the Revolutionary Guards inside the Zahedan Husseiniyah, where the Revolutionary Guard day gathering was being held and where more than a hundred Revolutionary Guards, servants of the Party of the Devil were sent to the eternal burning fires of hell.”
“This operation is a response to the continued crimes of the Iranian regime in Baluchistan, where they thought that by murdering our righteous leader, Abdul Malik, that our operations will cease,” the Jundallah statement said.
Abdul Malik Rigi, who was also known as Emir Abdul Malik Baluch, was detained on Feb. 23, reportedly while on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. Rigi was executed on June 20.
Jundallah has carried out a series of high-profile attacks against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. The largest attack took place on Oct. 18, 2009, when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a meeting of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commanders and Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in Pishin in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. Brigadier General Nour Ali Shoushtari, the deputy commander for the IRGC’s ground forces, and Brigadier Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, the IRGC’s provincial commander for Sistan-Baluchistan, were killed in the attack. In a press release on its website, Jundallah claimed that the commanders of Iranshahr Corps, Sarbaz Corps, and the Amir al Mo’menin Brigade were also killed in the attack.
Jundallah has conducted numerous attacks against the IRGC and the Iranian government, including the 2005 ambush on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s motorcade in Sistan-Baluchistan; the 2006 murder of 22 civilians in Tasooki; the 2007 ambush on an IRGC convoy that killed 18 officers in Zahedan; the 2008 kidnapping and execution of 16 Iranian policemen; the 2009 ambush that killed 12 policemen in Saravan; and the 2009 bombing at a mosque in Zahedan that killed 25 people.
The Iranian government accuses the United States, Britain, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan of covertly backing Jundallah as part of an effort to destabilize the regime. Jundallah operates in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
Sources:
• Bomb incidents kill 20, injure 100 in Zahedan, IRNA
• Statement on attack on Revolutionary Guards in Zahedan, Jundallah
• Iran captures Jundallah’s leader, The Long War Journal
• Jundallah leader Rigi executed in Iran, PressTV
• Jundallah kills senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders, The Long War Journal
14 Comments
I guess the picture of the Bombers was taken by Jundallah before the attack?
I personally wasn’t aware that this went on in Iran, does anyone know how much substance there is to the claims that this group is backed by various countries that oppose the Iranian regime?
From the picture it’s easy to tell which suicide bombed dressed as the woman.
But on a more serious note, I too would like to know if there are any credible pieces of evidence showing Jundallah is backed by the US and the UK (as Iran claims).
I agree with the previous two posters. If Bill were somewhere other than Afghanistan I’d ask him to do a piece on it. I’ve seen the claim made in several places that the CIA is backing Jundallah but when I dug a little on it all I found was a “confession” from their leader that was almost certainly extracted by torture before his execution.
I seriously doubt the claims that Jundallah is backed by the West. They’re just one step from AQ. I think we may have learnt that lesson.
But I’d find the claims that Jundallah is backed by other Sunni Arab states (e.g. Saudi Arabia or the Gulf States) to be much more believable. Perhaps not by the governments (though with Saudi one never knows … there is certainly a ‘Cold War” struggle for power) but certainly by Whabbi individuals with money.
Interesting. Is this the “Rigi” clan fighting back for the family?
Bill do you know any more of the back stories between Jundallah and “warlords” and clans in Iran/Balochistan?
The other point is if the bomber(s) were dressed as female they would have been in the female section of the Mosque (and so killing females not the RG). It seems like a lot weaker attack in hitting RG than the previous (very successful) car bomb attack. And with decent OPSEC those senior RG not killed in the first bombing would have left promptly to avoid follow up attacks.
I seriously doubt the US or any western power is involved. I wouldn’t put it past the Saudis. After all, they are the folks who are supporting worldwide jihad with money. And it would be in their interest to tweak the lion’s tail.
A Interesting view of the Story.
Worth the read.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/02/was-rigis-arrest-by-iran-staged.html
It is sad that people have to go to this extent to get a point across. It is also sad that some one takes advantage of people that do not have the sense to understand that killing ones shelf is not the answer. Putting up a fight is a sense of survival. Killing ones shelf shows a sense of desperation and weakness.
I’m surprised this hasn’t happened more often in Iran. Iran has backed suicide bombings in a wide list of different countries and has been a thorn in the sides of every sunni dominated country across the middle east. I’m not excusing it but after a while you sort of reap what you so. Unfortunatley this tactic will not affect policy in Iran and will most certainly justify a crack down on their internal enemies.
Any dots connecting this event with the recent murder of BNP-M secretary general Habib Jalib Baloch? Sometimes a moderate nationalist like Baloch as offensive to the radicals as the Persians over the border.
It is probably just ‘copy cat’ style attacks.
The organizers keep seeing press reports in the middle east news services about how successful the suicide bomb attacks have been in Iraq and Afghanistan and now believe that is what works best. Score another own goal for Islamic propaganda.
We actually discuss the US support of Jindallay on our latest blog post. Seymour Hersch has written the most on the issue, and links to his long article on the subject in the New Yorker can be found in the post: http://www.theradix.net/2010/07/double-standards-and-supporting.html.
As an Iranian member of Anjoman-e Padshahi Iran (The Kingdom Assembly of Iran) , I have to say that the group which called Jundollah is not a hemogenised group in subject to ideology and there are lots of groups with different ideologies such as Nationalists – Islamists – Socialists are working together under one umbrella which is called Jundollah. Baluchestan as a state in Iran doesn’t have the fair share of rights ( Compair to other states) , just because they are Sunnies. So there is nothing left for them unless to fight back against the tyranic Islamic regim of Iran . Jundullah tryed its best on negotiatios with regim, but the result was zero , and regim gave them War with torturing and presoning and executions , and after all the new generation decided to fight back. Jundollah is independent group and if they can keep it they will becom the one of heroic opposition groups. Jundollah is very popular groups in all Iran.
Seymour Hersch has fabricated the most on this issue.
DUBIOUS
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