Sunni Group Announces Execution of 2 Iranian Policemen

TEHRAN, June 20 -- An armed Sunni group said Friday that it had executed two Iranian policemen, and it threatened to kill 14 others abducted a week ago in an area near the border with Pakistan.

Iranian authorities did not immediately react to a videotape purporting to show the killings, part of which was aired Friday by the al-Arabiya satellite channel, based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. Iran has accused the United States of assisting the group, known as Jundallah, or God's Brigade.

In 2007, ABC News quoted U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials as saying that Jundallah members have been "encouraged and advised" by American officials since 2005. A CIA spokesman told ABC that the United States provides no funding to Jundallah.

In the years since the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Iraq, Iran has experienced increased unrest in border areas where minorities live. Iran is an overwhelmingly Shiite country in which Persians are the dominant ethnic group.

Militant organizations have claimed responsibility for bombings in a southwestern province where many Iranian Arabs live. A Kurdish separatist group based in northern Iraq has attacked Iranian security personnel in Iran's Kurdish areas, killing hundreds.

The groups say Iran's government mistreats and discriminates against minorities, charges that authorities deny.

Abbas Mohtaj, an Interior Ministry official, told the semi-independent Fars News Agency on Wednesday that a "threatening communique" from Jundallah demanded "the release of criminals that have been jailed by the courts."

Iranian officials have said that the abducted policemen were taken to Pakistan. The kidnappings occurred on the same day that the brother of the leader of Jundallah, Abdul Malik Rigi, was extradited by Pakistan to Iran.

The group operates in the Iranian province of Sistan va Baluchistan, where Sunni Muslims of the Baluchi minority live. Some members of this minority say they are ethnically distinct from Persians. The Baluchis live in the porous border area between Iran and Pakistan, often referred to as Iran's Wild West, where authorities contend with the smuggling of drugs, weapons and oil.

Also Thursday, Iranian media reported that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had indirectly accused the United States of plotting to assassinate him during a visit to Baghdad in March.

A U.S. military official told the Reuters news service that U.S.-led coalition forces were unaware of any threat to Ahmadinejad during his visit.

"The enemy had plans to kidnap and assassinate this servant of the nation in the Iraq trip. But with God's help we made a few changes in our programs," Ahmadinejad said, according to the news agency ISNA.

The "enemy" is a term often used by Iranian authorities for those who oppose the Iranian government, including the United States.