Conflicting accounts arise over Iran rebel's capture

[maddezmom]

Iran says it caught Abdulmalak Rigi, but his outlawed group, Jundallah, says he was captured by U.S., Pakistani and Afghan intelligence and handed over to Iran in a backroom deal.

February 24, 2010
Reporting from Beirut - Contradictory accounts clouded Iran's announcement Tuesday that it had captured the leader of a Sunni Muslim militant group it has been fighting for years.

Iran declared that it had caught Abdulmalak Rigi, leader of the outlawed Jundallah, after a months-long operation, saying it had evidence that he and his group were backed by the United States. There were conflicting statements by Iranian officials about where he was detained.

"We had spread a dragnet and we managed to capture him," said Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammed Najjar, state radio reported. "He is now in the claws of justice. We were watching him and his agents, but we wanted to capture him alive."

But the rebel group, which claims to fight for the rights of the nation's ethnic Baluch minority, quickly countered Tehran's narrative, insisting that its leader had been captured by U.S., Pakistani and Afghan intelligence and handed over to the Islamic Republic as part of a backroom deal. The rebels did not say where he was taken.

more:http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-jundallah24-2010feb24,0,3805777.story

Iran forces jet to land, nabs terrorist leader
Intelligence minister calls Sunni' rebel's capture 'a great defeat for the U.S. and U.K.'
February 23, 2010 9:00 PM Iran forced down a civilian airliner on Tuesday and boarded it to arrest the leader of a terrorist group it claims is backed by Britain, Israel and the United States.

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Officials were vague about the details of the arrest, but state media said Rigi had been on board a flight from Dubai to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, after visiting a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Bishkek airport confirmed that Kyrgyzstan Airways flight QH454 from Dubai arrived several hours late after being told to land by Iran.

more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Iran+forces+land+nabs+terrorist+leader/2606320/story.html