US adds Jundallah to terror list

The United States has added anti-Iran terrorist group Jundallah on its list of foreign terrorist organizations merely after the group was effectively disbanded by Iranians.

“Jundallah has engaged in numerous attacks resulting in the death and maiming of scores of Iranian civilians and government officials, primarily in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province,” the US State Department said on Wednesday.

“Jundallah uses a variety of terrorist tactics, including suicide bombings, ambushes, kidnappings and targeted assassinations,” it added in a statement.

Jundallah, which has operated in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan and Pakistan’s Baluchestan provinces, has carried out several attacks against ordinary Iranian citizens as well as government and security officers.

According to the State Department statement, the group was placed on the list of about 47 other groups involved in “terrorism” due to the fact that it has “confirmed its commitment to continue its terrorist activities.”

Jundallah’s ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was nabbed by Iranian intelligence forces in February 2010 and executed in June on charges of 79 counts of crimes, including murder, armed robbery, bombing operations and armed attacks against civilians and law enforcement officers.

In confessions after his arrest, Rigi offered detailed accounts of his talks with US representatives that offered him financial and military support in exchange of waging an insurgency war in Iran. Rigi regularly appeared in official media outlets of the US and UK, boosting his criminal activities against Iranians.

Major US-based broadcaster ABC News reported in 2007 that Jundallah “has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials” to destabilize the government in Iran.