U.S. lists Jundallah as terror group

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Washington designated Sunni militant group Jundallah as a terrorist organization for its violent attacks in southern Iran, the State Department said Wednesday.

Tehran paraded Jundallah leader Abdolmalek Rigi before television cameras after he was arrested in February. He told state-funded broadcaster Press TV that he had the support of U.S. officials in Afghanistan. The Pentagon denied the claims.

The State Department in a Wednesday announcement said it was designating Jundallah as a terrorist organization for its targeting of Iranian interests in the south of the Islamic republic.

"Jundallah uses a variety of terrorist tactics, including suicide bombings, ambushes, kidnappings and targeted assassinations," the State Department said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States of playing a role in two July bombings in southern Iran carried out by Jundallah.

"No grouping other than U.S.-backed terrorist groups, which are devoid of human feelings can commit such acts," he was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying at the time.

Washington at the time had yet to place the group on its terrorist list.

The group claimed responsibility for an October 2009 attack in southern Iran that left several members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps dead.