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The making of an insurgency in Iran's Balochistan province
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19 May 2006
The making of an insurgency in Iran's Balochistan province
By Alex Vatanka and Fatemeh Aman
There has been a considerable escalation in violence in Iran's impoverished Balochistan province. On 1 May, Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi said that Tehran has approached Interpol for help in tracking down Abdolmalek Rigi. The Iranian authorities believe that Rigi, the ethnic Baloch and Sunni leader of Jondollah (Soldiers of Allah), is probably traversing between Iran's Balochistan and Pakistan and southern Afghanistan.
Rigi and his unknown number of militiamen have vowed to fight the Shia-centric government in Tehran unless socio-economic conditions improve in the province, where the majority of the population is Sunni and ethnic Baloch. Meanwhile, mainstream Balochis are also becoming increasingly vocal in demanding socio-economic regeneration and an end to discrimination in the province.
Tehran's response
Iran's reaction to Jondollah's most recent attacks has been to publicly concede to the severity of ethnic Baloch militancy in Iran.
The most recent attacks have included the 16 March killing of 20 people travelling between the provincial capital, Zahedan, and Zabol, a desolate border town that acts as a major conduit for drugs from Afghanistan. On 14 May, a number of cars travelling on the main road between the cities of Bam and Kerman were attacked by an estimated 30 gunmen, leaving 12 people dead. Jondollah has claimed responsibility for the 16 March attack, although it said that those killed were either military personnel or somehow affiliated with the Iranian government, an accusation rebuffed by Tehran, which maintains that civilians were targeted. Jondollah denies involvement in the 14 May attack.
Despite the differing accounts, there is little doubt that the escalation of violence and the increasing reach and size of Jondollah's attacks are forcing provincial authorities, as well as the embattled Interior Ministry and the various branches of the armed forces to rethink the situation. However, early indications suggest that an array of assessments are being carried out by Iranian officials, making a concerted and resourced response to the threat from Jondollah and other possible militancy in Balochistan unlikely, at least in the short term.
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