Iranians Arrest British-Linked Rebels

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said yesterday it has arrested anti-government separatists allegedly linked to British intelligence, accusing them of involvement in violent protests and a recent spate of deadly bombings.A statement on state-run TV did not specify how many people had been detained nor reveal their nationalities, but said they were arrested in an oil rich province that borders British-controlled southern Iraq, the southwestern Khuzestan.The announcement came just days after an Iranian official accused Washington and London of stoking unrest among the country’s Arab and Kurdish ethnic minorities.“The agents arrested have confessed to belonging to separatist opposition groups and having links with foreign, especially British, intelligence services,” a TV announcer said, quoting a government statement.British Embassy officials in Tehran could not be reached immediately for comment, and the arrests could not be immediately confirmed with Iranian officials.The statement added that Intelligence Ministry forces had identified and arrested “all those involved in recent bombings and unrest in Khuzestan.” It did not say when the arrests took place.In June, four bomb blasts rocked Khuzestan’s capital, Ahvaz, killing eight people and injuring many more. The bombings were the deadliest in Iran in more than a decade, and seriously damaged government buildings.Ahvaz was also the site of two days of violent protests during April, triggered by false rumors of an alleged plan to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the area.Officials at the time confirmed one death, but opposition groups said more than 20 demonstrators had been killed while some 250 were arrested.On Sunday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, suggested that America and Britain were encouraging unrest among the Arabs and Kurds in northwestern and southwestern Iran, but he offered little evidence.“According to some information, the Americans intervened in northwestern Iran. This is not acceptable at all,” Mr. Asefi told a news conference. “We will voice our objection in this regard soon.”Over the past month, the unrest also has rocked several Kurdish towns in northwestern Iran including Mahabad. Clashes with police and arrests led to more protests, and the government closed down two newspapers and detained journalists and activists.Security forces were also said to be among an unspecified number of those hurt and killed.The Kurdish opposition group PEJAK, which in Kurdish stands for the “Party of Free Life of Kurdistan,” has called on Kurds in western Iran to begin civil disobedience. Iranian security forces have clashed with the group in recent weeks, and officials have vowed to confront the “terrorist” group.

Iranians Arrest British-Linked Rebels

Iranians Arrest British-Linked Rebels

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