WASHINGTON, July 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. government condemns "in the strongest possible terms" the twin Jundallah terrorist attacks at a mosque in southern Iran, the U.S. secretary of state said.
Sunni rebel group Jundallah in a statement to al-Arabiya claimed responsibility for two attacks on a mosque in Sistan-Baluchistan province in Iran. The attack killed at least 22 people in what the group said was a response to the June execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in Iran, al-Jazeera reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement said Washington condemned the attack on Iran, calling on the perpetrators to be held accountable.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms today's terrorist attacks claimed by Jundallah that targeted Iranians at a mosque in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran," she said in a statement.
Tehran paraded Rigi before television cameras after the arrest, where he told state-funded broadcaster Press TV that he had the support of U.S. officials in Afghanistan. The Pentagon denied the claims.
Jundallah claimed responsibility for an October attack in southern Iran that left several members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps dead.
Jundallah is not listed by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Yadollah Javani, a top official with the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps, was quoted in the semiofficial Fars News Agency as saying Washington and Israel were behind the latest attacks.
"One could not doubt the involvement of secret foreign services in the efforts to generate tension amongst Muslims," he was quoted as saying.
