Members of Iran's Jundallah group (File)
The Sunni militant group Jundallah has kidnapped an Iranian nuclear worker in the city of Esfahan, according to a statement seen by Al Arabiya on Friday, as five people were killed and nine others wounded in a shooting incident in Iran's western province of Kurdistan.
The statement by the Sunni Baluchi organization, which is known for its armed activities against governmental institutions and military establishments in Iran, mentioned that members of the organization have carried out an "intelligence operation" in Esfahan and abducted the employee, who worked at an Iranian nuclear establishment.
No official confirmation
Jundallah alleged that the operation was carried out few days ago, but the statement did not mention the exact date of the abduction. The statement mentioned the name of the hostage as Amir Hussein Shirani bin Mohammed Shirani, who was born in 1971.
The statement said that the abducted nuclear worker was taken to Baluchistan mountains and promised to publish a number of "video clips and photos showing his confession."
There was no confirmation from any official or independent source in Iran about the Jundallah allegations.
In case the allegation was correct, it would be the first operation of its kind, as it took place in Esfahan, which is hundreds of kilometers away from Jundallah stronghold in Sistan-Baluchistan that neighbors the Pakistani Baluchistan.
Iran has executed Junallah leader Abdul Malik Rigi in June after the Revolution Court convicted him of masterminding a number of armed operations in Baluchistan.
Iran accuses Jundallah of having links with the CIA and al-Qaeda. But the group deny the allegation and say that their main aim is to support the national rights of minorities in Iran's Baluchistan.
Clashes in Kurdistan
In the meantime, five people, including four policemen, were killed and nine others injured when two gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in Iran's western province of Kurdistan on Thursday, Mehr news agency reported.
Deputy provincial police commander Ebrahim Kazeminejad was quoted as confirming the toll from the attack on the patrol and passers-by in Sanandaj, the capital of the province bordering Iraq.
"At 5:10 pm two assailants from anti-revolutionary groups fired on a patrol and passers-by in Azadi Square of Sanandaj in which four policemen and a passer-by were martyred," Kazeminejad said.
He said: "In this terrorist act also five policemen and four passers-by were wounded."
Western Iran, which has a sizeable Kurdish population, has seen deadly clashes in recent years between security forces and Kurdish rebel groups operating from bases in neighboring Iraq.
In early September, Iranian security forces killed four members of an outlawed leftist Kurdish group -- Komala -- in Kurdistan.
The media reported that they had "entered the country for terrorist operations but were killed before they could do anything."
In May, Iran hanged four Kurds, including a woman, after convicting them of membership in another outlawed Kurdish group, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).
(Translated from Arabic by Abeer Tayel)
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/10/08/121600.html
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