Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 29
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's rebel Baluchi group, Jaish al-Adl has rejected responsibility for the killing of Abdul Rauf Rigi, leader of another Baluch group, Jaish al-Nasr.
"Rigi was killed by the Islamic Republic," the group claimed in a statement published on its Facebook page Aug. 29.
Jaish al-Adl confirmed some disagreements between the two rival groups, adding "the differences were not at a level which led to conflicts."
Iranian media outlets reported that Abdul Rauf Rigi whose brother Abdolmalek was hanged by the Islamic Republic was killed in Pakistan as a result of armed Baluch groups' internal conflict.
Abdul Rauf and his nephew Abu Bakr Rigi were killed in an attack by the Jaish al-Adl group in the city of Dalbandin, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.
Jaish al-Adl group kidnapped five Iranian border guards on Feb. 6 in the country's south eastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan.
On March 23, the group tweeted that it had hanged Jamshid Danayeefar, one of the five kidnapped guards. The other guards were released later on April 4.
Jaish al-Nasr group was founded by Rigi after differences over the hanging of Danayeefar, according to Al Arabiya. However Iranian media outlets claim that controlling financial resource was behind the internal differences in Jaish al-Adl, which led to founding the new Jaish al-Nasr group.
Both Iran and Pakistan have declared Jaish al-Adl a terrorist group. The group's former leader Abdolmalek Rigi was captured by Iranian security forces and executed in 2010 on charges of "armed robbery, assassination attempts, armed attacks on the army and police and on ordinary people, and murder."