Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar is in Pakistan to persuade Islamabad to extradite Abdulmalek Rigi, the head of the Jundallah group that claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing on October 18 which killed top leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
“I had a telephone conversation with Pakistan’s Interior Minister [Rehman Malik] and asked him to immediately deliver the perpetrators,” said Mr. Najjar ahead of his departure. Tehran considers Jundallah as a terrorist group, and has urged Pakistan to capture and extradite Rigi.
“This is not the first time the terrorist cell have committed crimes. The Iranians are wondering how such a group easily commute in the neighbouring Pakistan’s soil,” Mr. Najjar observed. At least 41 people were killed, including two top IRGC commanders, during the suicide bombing in the Sistan-Balochistan province which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Iranians have been furious at the alleged use of Pakistani soil by Jundallah to launch cross-border attacks inside Iran. On Tuesday, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heider Moslehi blamed the Pakistani intelligence for having links with Rigi’s group.
“We have good evidence and documents ... which show that Abdulmalek Rigi and all his terrorist agents are in contact with Pakistani intelligence system,” Mr. Moslehi was quoted as saying.
Also on Tuesday, the Ground Force Commander of the IRGC, Mohammad Pakpour, urged Iranian officials to issue orders that would allow his troops to attack Jundallah bases inside Pakistan, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
“This is not acceptable to us that terrorists enter Iran from a neighbouring country and stage terrorist action” he observed.
Mr. Najjar also accused the West of providing financial, intelligence, and political assistance to Jundallah.
Iran’s Interior Minister is in Islamabad
West aiding the terror group, says Tehran
