Attack on Tasooki

On the night of March 16, 2006 (25 Esfand 1384 in the Iranian calendar), a group of armed men led by Abdolmalek Rigi, wearing police uniforms, stopped passing vehicles — mostly buses — on the Zabol-Zahedan road near the Tasooki police station in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan Province. The attackers, members of the Baloch religio-political insurgent group Jundallah (Iran), closed the road and divided passengers by ethnic and sectarian identity — separating Baloch, Shia, Sunni, and other travelers.

According to the account, the attackers then executed Shia male passengers in front of their wives and children, while sparing women and children, whose hands and feet were tied before they were left in the street. In total, 22 people were killed, including a student, a worker, an employee, a soldier, a reporter, and a businessman. Six others were injured. Government officials present were also killed, and Hasan Ali Nouri, the Governor of Zahedan, was injured in the attack.

The Rigi-led forces took a number of ordinary civilians and military personnel hostage. Seven hostages were reported taken, and they were released after approximately 200 days in captivity. One hostage, student Reza Lakzaei, was held for five months and later described his experience in a book titled "Tasooki, Memories of a Hostage."

The group was effectively dismantled following the execution of its leader, Abdolmalek Rigi. Rigi stated that the Tasooki attack was intended as retaliation for the killing of six Baloch men from the Nootizahi and Shahbakhsh tribes by Iranian security forces, and said the group would not distinguish between Sunni or Shia targets until the Baloch people were no longer threatened by the Iranian government.

In the aftermath, Iranian government officials characterized the attackers as "rebels" with political motivations. The group reportedly demanded that Iranian authorities release imprisoned Jundallah members. Iranian officials also alleged that the United Kingdom and United States had supported Jundallah, an accusation the UK denied.