TEHRAN, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Iranian lawmakers announced several arrests were made in connection with a string of assassinations in the western province of Kordestan.
Kazem Jalali, the special rapporteur to a national security commission in the Iranian Parliament, briefed reporters on the progress of an investigation into the unrest in Kordestan province, the Fars News Agency reports.
"According to the reports that the commission has received, a number of people have been identified and arrested in connection with the issue," he said.
Iran blames armed separatists with regional Salafist groups for the assassination of a top cleric and presidential ally in the Kurdish province of Kordestan.
Three gunmen gunned down Ayatollah Mamousta Borhan Ali in front of his home recently. The cleric was a leading supporter of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the June election campaign.
His assassination follows an earlier attempt on the life of a local judge in the provincial capital.
Regional officials said the violence was part of an external plot to portray the region as volatile and unsafe.
Salafist groups associated with Ansar al-Islam had sought to establish a provisional authority in the Kurdish regions in northern Iran and Iraq, though Iranian media reports did not single out any specific organization or individuals.
