News

TEHRAN - If the snow-covered Elbruz mountains rising just north of
Tehran took on an extra glint in the bright wintry sunshine on
Wednesday, there was good reason. It was the morning after the dramatic
capture of the 31-year-old leader of the dreaded Pakistan-based
terrorist group Jundallah, Abdulmalik Rigi, in a stunning operation by
Iranian intelligence.

The Soureh Cinema Institute in Tehran and
Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance are already
contemplating making a movie about the capture of Rigi, who headed
Jundallah (Soldiers of God), a Sunni insurgent group that operates
mostly in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan against the
Shi'ite regime.

The operation had all the ingredients of a
thriller. From available details, Iranian intelligence, which has been
stalking Rigi for months, grabbed him while he was on a flight from the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Kyrgyzstan. The aircraft was forced to
land in Bandar Abbas, in southern Iran, where Rigi and an accomplice
were forcibly deplaned.

However, Rigi's capture has wider
ramifications going well beyond the stuff of high drama. For one thing,
the Iranian public was dazzled by the intelligence operation and it has
provided a morale boost at a critical juncture when the West is
besieging Iran over its nuclear program and the political class in
Tehran is m... >>>