Iran hangs 11 Sunni rebels, urges Pakistan to act

Iran hanged 11 people linked to the Sunni rebel group that killed 39 people in a mosque bombing, the justice ministry said on Monday, and an army official urged Pakistan to root out the 'terrorists' across the border.

"The people of Sistan-Baluchestan province, in their continuing campaign against the elements of cruelty and insecurity, hanged 11 people at Zahedan prison," the ministry said in a statement on the semi-official Fars news agency.

It said those executed were all supporters of Jundollah, the group that Iran says is linked to al-Qaeda and which claimed a double suicide bombing of Shi'ite worshippers in the southeastern province bordering Pakistan on December 15.

Iran hoped it had neutralised Jundollah when it executed its leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, in June. But the mosque bombing in the town of Chabahar, which wounded more than 100 people, was the latest action by the group to show it is fighting back.           

Jundollah says it fights for the rights of the Baluch people, an ethnic minority it says faces "genocide".

The families of the bombing victims sent a letter to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari calling for "serious measures" against Jundollah and other "terrorist" groups, echoing a call from some Iranian officials.

"These anti-revolutionary groups which have been given shelter in neighbouring countries like Pakistan and are being supported there should be pursued and suppressed on Pakistani soil," Qolamali Rashid, a senior military official, said according to Fars. 

"The land forces of the revolutionary guard have the ability to do this," he said, referring to Iran's elite military force.  

A member of parliament's national security and foreign policy committee said on Sunday that Pakistan should be served notice to destroy what he called terrorist training camps.   

"If the Pakistan government refused to take measures to destroy the terrorist centres in that country, then the islamic republic would have the right to take steps and make the atmosphere unsafe for the terrorists in defence of its own nationals," Kazem Jalali told the semi-official Mehr news agency.