Dec 20 (Reuters) - Iran has hanged 11 people linked to Jundollah, the Sunni rebel group that killed 39 people in a mosque bombing last week, the Justice Ministry said on Monday. [ID:nLDE6BJ0EJ]
Here are some key details about the Sunni Muslim rebel group:
LINKS:
* Iran, which is predominantly Shi'ite, has linked Jundollah (God's Soldiers) to the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda network. It also accuses the United States of backing Jundollah in order to create instability in the country. Washington denies the charge.
* Jundollah says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's minority Sunnis. Iran rejects allegations by rights groups that it discriminates against ethnic and religious minorities.
ALLIANCES/AIMS:
* Jundollah chief Abdolmalek Rigi said in a 2007 interview that his group was fighting for the rights of the Baluch people facing what he called "genocide" in Iran, but denied it harboured any separatist or radical sectarian agenda.
* Jundollah has evolved through shifting alliances with various parties, including the Taliban and Pakistan's ISI intelligence service, who saw the group as a tool against Iran, according to Lahore-based Pakistani analyst Ahmed Rashid.
* Jundollah, which also calls itself the Iranian People's Resistance Movement, was founded in 2002 and launched its armed campaign in 2005.
* Since early 2005 the group has sought to expand operations in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
* The group probably numbers fewer than 100 militants armed with explosives and small arms in Sistan-Baluchestan which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
* Last month the United States named Jundollah for repeated attacks within the Islamic Republic and added it to its list of foreign terrorist organisations.
* ATTACKS:
* In June 2005, the Sunni Muslim Jundollah Baluch militant group, which Iran says has links to al Qaeda, kidnapped Revolutionary Guard officer Shahab Mansuri. He was killed on July 13.
* On Dec. 14, 2005, an assassination attempt was carried out against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while on a visit to Sistan-Baluchestan. This attack was also blamed on Jundollah.
* In 2007, Jundollah claimed responsibility for several attacks. On Feb. 14, 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards were killed in an attack on a bus in the city of Zahedan.
* In December 2008 there was a suicide attack in Saravan on a security forces headquarters. This was the first such suicide attack in Iran and was carried out by Abdul-Ghafoor Rigi, a brother of the group's leader.
* On May 28, 2009, a suicide bomber killed 30 people and wounded more than 120 in an attack on a mosque in Zahedan. Jundollah claimed responsibility for the attack.
* An Oct. 18, 2009 bombing by the group killed 40 people. Fifteen Revolutionary Guards members were among those killed, including the deputy head of ground forces. Jundollah said it was behind the deadliest attack in Iran since the 1980s.
* On July 15, 2010 powerful bombs exploded near Zahedan's Grand Mosque. At least 28 people were killed and more than 169 injured. Jundollah claimed the blast in revenge for the execution of its leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, on June 20.
* Two people including a hostage were killed on Sept. 18 during an operation to free six Iranians taken captive from a bus. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guards' ground forces said Jundollah was behind the abduction of the five soldiers and a bank employee in Sistan-Baluchestan.
* Dec. 15 - Thirty-nine Iranians were killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide attack in the city of Chabahr in Sistan-Baluchestan province, near the Imam Hussein Mosque, during a Shi'ite mourning ceremony. Jundollah claimed responsibility for the bombing the same day.
ARRESTS AND EXECUTIONS:
* On May 30, 2009 three men were hanged in public for involvement in the Zahedan bombing. Two more were hanged on June 2. Iran executed 13 more men accused of membership of Jundollah in July 2009.
* On Nov. 3, 2009 Iran executed Jundollah member Abdolhamid Rigi.
* The leader's brother also called Abdolhamid was hanged in on May 24, 2010.
* The group's leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was arrested in February 2010. He was convicted by a revolutionary court of various charges, including armed robbery, kidnapping, drug smuggling, assassination attempts and murder and was executed on June 20.
* Iran arrested three Jundollah members in October who played "a major role" in the July mosque explosion.
* Iran hanged 11 people at Zahedan prison, and said those executed were all supporters of Jundollah.
Sources: Reuters/Janes World Insurgency and Terrorism (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)
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