TEHRAN – Interior Minister Mostafa Purmohammadi said on Sunday that some of the terrorist elements responsible for the murder of 12 people on Saturday in southeastern Iran have been arrested.

The terrorists were disguised in police uniforms. The victims were blindfolded, handcuffed, and shot in cold blood on the side of a highway between the cities of Kerman and Bam. The victims were all shot in the chest after they were forced to leave their cars.

“I doubt the terrorists will be able to cross the border since we have control over the region,” Purmohammadi told reporters as carried by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA).

“Police forces started tracking down the terrorists on Sunday morning. A number of the elements have been caught and some of them have been killed,” he added. On the motivation behind the attack, Purmohammadi said, “It was an instance of blind cruelty and a mission carried out upon an order, similar to the terrorist attacks which occurred in Sistan-Baluchestan and in northwest Iran.”

Police Commander Askandar Moemeni told ISNA on Sunday that a Sunni militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, AFP reported.

"Terrorist elements from the so-called Jundallah group, headed by Abdolmalek Rigi, claimed responsibility for the murder of 12 innocent Iranians by phoning us," he said.

"Six of the bandits were killed in a shootout after we caught them in an area between Kerman (province) and Sistan-Baluchestan province," Abolqasem Nasrollahi, the deputy governor-general of Kerman Province, told Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

Jundallah is a shadowy militant group believed to be based across the border in southwestern Afghanistan, and had been blamed for a string of armed incidents along Iran's borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

State Attorney General Ayatollah Dori Najafabadi on Sunday expressed deep regret over the terrorist attack and urged the intelligence, security, and police forces to seriously pursue the case.

“I hope the officials responsible for dealing with the case will teach the terrorists an unforgettable lesson,” he said.

He added that intelligence and security forces should not allow a group of bandits to shed the blood of defenseless people and to create insecurity in the region.

Meanwhile, Majlis Vice Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar complained about the performance of the intelligence and security forces after the occurrence of the violent act.

“Why should we witness a bitter terrorist attack shortly after a similar incident that was not dealt with seriously? A repetition of such incidents is not acceptable to us,” stressed Bahonar, who represents Kerman in the Majlis.

“If the police feel they are not able to deal with the issue, the Supreme National Security Council should delegate the responsibility for maintaining security in the eastern border regions to the Islamic Republic Guards Corps and the Basij (volunteer) forces,” Bahonar said.

He called the attack an organized conspiracy directed from outside the country’s borders.

“These attacks will continue due to the stances adopted by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we need joint intelligence and security efforts to control them,” the MP stated.

The Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy committee was scheduled to review the terrorist attack on Sunday afternoon.

Committee Chairman Alaeddin Borujerdi told IRNA that the committee would discuss the issue with a security forces commander stationed in eastern Iran.