Intelligence Ministry: Terror group involved in crimes against humanity

Some 102 members and followers of this group have been rounded up and put under intelligence, operational and judiciary investigation, the statement said.

Following the spread of Salafi-Takfiri thoughts in western Iran, a group inspired by the thoughts set up a terrorist group in winter 2008 which came to be known as Abu Bakr group among local people.

In their first terrorist attempt, 27 members of the group attacked the police headquarters and special forces on April 23, 2009, killing and wounding a number of police officers, according to the statement.

The statement said that first of all , the Intelligence Ministry believed that ethnic groups such as PJAK were behind the attack. But it was soon revealed that the crimes were orchestrated by Takfiri movements. Inspired by the Takfiri-Wahhabi thoughts, the group managed to create restrictions in the name Islam and mislead Iranian citizens living in the western province of Kurdistan.

The terrorist group, then, managed to create public fear and instability and even resorted to other terrorist measures, changing their name to 'Tohid and Jihad', the statement said.

The statement said that with examining the thoughts and measures taken by Tohid and Jihad Takfiri group, it was found that this group and Daesh terrorist group are much alike. Some of their commonalities are as follows:

1- Restricting the scope of Islam and condemning the individuals to infidelity based on their personal jurisprudence
2- The low level of knowledge of the main leader of the group about the Islamic jurisprudence
3- Being under the influence of Takfiri-Wahhabi thoughts and rejecting the basics of Shafi'i fiqh and condemning major Sunni clerics to infidelity
4- Adventurism
5- Extremist thoughts
6- Blind stubbornness and refusing to accept and tolerate the ideas of others
7- violence

After being targeted by the intelligence forces, the group lost its capability to carry out widescale military operations and resorted to recruiting new members and carrying out terrorist and persecution as mentioned below:

1- Distributing poisoned chocolate among police and army forces and judiciary personnel of the city of Sanandaj in June 2009.
2- Armed robbery from a gold shop in the city of Qorveh on July 7, 2009, kidnapping and killing the shopkeeper
3- Armed attack at a police station in the city of Sanandaj on July 12, 2009, wounding three police officers
4- Failed attempt to terror a senior judiciary official in the city of Sanandaj on September 8, 2009
5- Assassination of a senior local Sunni cleric Mamusta Borhan Aali on September 11, 2009
6- Failed attempt to assassinate a judge in September 15, 2009
7- Assassination of a senior local Sunni cleric Mamusta Sheikhuleslam on September 16, 2009.
8- Armed clashes with intelligence forces in Sharif Abad on September 26, 2009, killing two and injuring one other. Three terrorists were also killed in the clashes
9- Armed robbery of a car and 60 million rials from a citizen in Sanandaj on October 4, 2009
10- Armed clashes with police forces in Sanandaj while patrolling in the city
11- Armed robbery of four cars in Hamedan, Zanjan and northern Iran in 2009 and 2010 in which a driver was killed
12- Armed robbery of 4.5 kilograms of gold from a gold shop in Hamedan on January 25 wounding one person.
13- Failed attempt for armed robbery in Hamedan on January 25, 2010
14- Armed robbery of nearly 4.5 kilograms of gold from a gold shop in Zanjan on February 12, 2010, killing a civilian and wounding two police officers.
15- Armed clashes with intelligence forces near Sanandaj on June 25, 2010
16- Armed clashes with intelligence forces in Hamedan on June 11, 2010 killing an intelligence personnel
17- Attacking traffic police stand at Azadi Square in Sanandaj on October 6, 2010, killing four police officers, one civilian and wounding 11 others
18- Armed clashes with intelligence forces on November 17, 2010, in which two terrorists were killed.
19- Killing four environment guards in Kurdistan province on March 3, 2011
20- Armed clashes with IRGC forces near Sanandaj in March 8, 2011
21- Two separate attacks at two police stations in Sanandaj on March 23, 2011, killing one police officer and two others.
22- Attacking police car while patrolling in a Sanandaj neighborhood.
23- Armed clashes with IRGC forces in a village in Sanandaj on April 3, 2011.
24- Clashes with operation forces of Intelligence Ministry on April 20, 2011, in which four terrorists were killed.

The terrorist group has totally martyred 20 people and 40 others among whom are well-known people like, Mohammad Sheikholeslam, the representative of the people of Kurdestan in the Assembly of Experts, and Mamusta Borhan Aali, a senior local Sunni cleric, the statement said.

It added that the last team house of the group was targeted in Sanandaj Hassan Abad neighborhood on April 20 and its members were arrested.

Some 102 members and followers of this group have been detected and put under intelligence, operational and judiciary investigation, the statement said, adding that some of these terrorists have been killed in clashes with police and security forces and some others have been sentenced to death or prison.

Sanandaj Judiciary issued a statement on Tuesday night saying that the death sentences of the Tohid and Jihad group terrorists were carried out early on Tuesday.
Translated by: Ahmad Mohammadi
Edited by: Safar Sarabi
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