The recent border confrontations with Sunni Islamists that prompted the summary execution of 16 suspected Sunni militants captured in retaliation to the border attacks the Islamist group had perpetrated a week before, has expanded to include attacks inside Iran's borders.
The Sunni Baluch factions have killed an Iranian prosecutor in retaliation for the execution of the Sunni Islamists captured at the border a week ago by Iranian forces and killed publicly to signify Iran's hardline at any attempt against the state.
The prosecutor, Musa Nouri, was gunned down in a city near the border with both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the crux of a region rife with sectarian activity.
The new attack has escalated what had been a brewing resentment among Sunni/Shia factions that has worsened since Iran has placed itself squarely in line with Shia leader Bashar al Assad in the Syrian civil war.
Although border attacks by Baluchi Islamists are not new, and its perpetrators nothing more than the heirs of the older Jundollah group, the newest incident shows that the Sunni Islamists are engaged in more than just separationist ideals, and are willing to enter Iranian territory to lay their message at Iran's doorstep.
Sunni in Iran are a minority, and as if often the case in predominantly Muslim countries,the majority sect is often the ruling one, although that was untrue for Iraq. But such sectarian differences often mean severe and profound religious and political strife, which in some cases can only be settled through war or unrest.
Source: AJ/ 11.07.13
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