Säkerhetstjänsten i Azerbaijan har gripit
22 terrorister som rekryterats av Iran och
utbildats och beväpnats av det iranska Revolu-
tionsgardet (Pasdaran) . De planerade en om-
fattande terroroffensiv mot israeliska
och amerikanska mål.
**
The national security ministry said Wednesday
that the 22, all Azerbaijan citizens, had been
trained in Iran, its southern neighbor, by Iran's
Revolutionary Guard. It did not specify when
the arrests were made.
**
In February, Azerbaijan announced the arrest
of another suspected terrorist group allegedly
working for Iran's secret services, and in January
it arrested two people accused of plotting to kill
two teachers at a Jewish school in the capital, Baku.
In 2007, Azerbaijan convicted 15 people in
connection with an alleged Iranian-linked spy
network accused of passing intelligence on
Western and Israeli activities.
**
Azerbaijani authorities said a Revolutionary Guard
operative, Akper Pakravesh, recruited an Azeri
identified as N. Kerimov while he was in Iran in
1999 and gave him the job of assembling a group
of other Azerbaijanis to act as spies.
The security ministry said in its statement that
Pakravesh met with members of the group in
Moscow and in the Syrian capital of Damascus,
giving them with financing and equipment.
Automatic assault rifles, grenades, ammunition,
explosives were seized during the group's arrest,
officials said.
**
Planned targets included diplomatic missions,
the offices of a Jewish organization, the local
headquarters of international oil giant BP and
an American-themed fast food restaurant.
***
