07/21/2018, 09.47
AZERBAIJIAN
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Baku, attack and conspiracy of radical Islam (Shiite)

A terrorist tried to kill the mayor of Gäncä. In the demonstrations that followed for his release, two police officers were killed. The motive would seem to link Tehran to Moscow and Damascus. For Iran it is "false news" with the aim of damaging Tehran.

 

Baku (AsiaNews / Agencies) - An Azeri terrorist with a Russian passport, 35-year-old Junis Safarov, has carried out an attack on the life of Elmar Veliev, mayor of the city of Gäncä, where his bodyguard, Sergeant Gasym Ashbasov,was seriously injured. 

According to the investigation that followed, the attack - which occurred last July 3 - was part of a subversive plan aimed at overthrowing the regime of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, to establish a radical Islamist government.

The Azerbaijani Interior Ministry pointed out that the attack was linked to the unrest in Gäncä on July 10th, when about 200 members of a radical Shia group gathered in front of the town hall, armed with knives and weapons. Two local police officers were killed in clashes with police. The demonstrators demanded the liberation of Safarov, originally from Gäncä, where he was radicalized while still in school, before moving to Moscow. 

For some years the terrorist has taught history in a professional institute in the Russian capital, also carrying out Islamist propaganda in favor of the Iranian regime of the ayatollahs. He later enrolled in Syria in the regular army of Bashar Assad, after receiving a special eight-month training at the Iranian University of Qom. The Gäncä plot would thus appear part of a Iran and Syria pro-Shiite plot, including the murderer of Veliev and a subsequent uprising across the country.

More than 60 people have been arrested so far, on charges of "attempted coup d'etat of Shiite matrix". These include Safarov's cousin and some protesters who would have assured the rebels the support of local criminal thugs. From the interrogations the group's connection with a mullah from Gäncä, Tohid Ibragimbeil, resident in the Iranian "holy city" of Qom emerged. He would have coordinated the actions of Safarov and several other Azerbaijani fighters in Syria between 2013 and 2016, also providing them with financial support.

The attempted assassination of the mayor of Gäncä was planned in early 2017, and was inspired by the Azerbaijani Shiite radical website, nur-az.com. The Azerbaijani police managed to stop the activities of the terrorist sect, and to break off ties with Iran.

On July 16th, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, condemned the Gäncä attack and wished a speedy recovery for those affected. For Qasemi there are "some centers" that "disseminate false news to foment charges against Iran".

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