TEHRAN, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A Sunni cleric who backed the execution of the leader of the militant group Jundallah escaped an assassination attempt in southern Iran, the government said.
Authorities in southern Sistan-Baluchistan province said militants believed to be with the Sunni insurgent group Jundallah stormed the home of Sunni cleric Molavi Mostafa Jangi Zehi, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported Tuesday.
Zehi led Friday prayers in the southern province.
Provincial officials said militants cornered the cleric's family at their home near the town of Sarbaz, though Zehi wasn't home at the time. He was the frequent target of threats by Jundallah for his backing of the June execution of their ringleader Abdolmalek Rigi.
Jundallah in a statement to al-Arabiya in July said it carried out attacks on a mosque in Sistan-Baluchistan province in Iran in response to the execution of Rigi. At least 22 people were killed in the attack.
The group claimed responsibility for an October attack in southern Iran that left several members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps dead.
Tehran said Washington is supporting the group in an effort to destabilize Iran. Washington, which hasn't placed Jundallah on its list of terrorist organizations, denies the allegations.
