CAIRO, March 9 (UPI) -- A spokesman for the Sunni militant group Jundallah challenged the Iranian narrative of the arrest of their leader, saying it was a U.S.-Israeli operation.
Tehran announced in February that the Iranians had custody of Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi. Jundallah claimed responsibility for an October attack in southern Iran that left several members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps dead.
The Iranians claimed Rigi was captured when Iranian fighter jets forced his flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan to land in Iran. Baluchi Kamal Narui, a spokesman for Jundallah, told London's pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that Rigi was arrested with the help of Israeli spies in Kandahar.
"I personally talked to him by phone when he was there," he said.
He did not explain how the Iranians took custody of Rigi, however.
U.S. Defense Department officials denied the Iranian allegations. "Iranian claims that Abdolmalek Rigi was at a U.S. military installation (in Afghanistan) prior to being apprehended are absolutely false," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell in February.
Tehran paraded Rigi before state television cameras, where he said he had U.S. support in Afghanistan.
The Jundallah spokesman said the arrest would do little to disrupt the objectives of his movement, which advocates rights for the Sunni minority.
