Sunni militant group claims Iran roadside killings

"Terrorist elements from the so-called Jundallah group, headed by Abdolmalek Rigi, claimed responsibility for the killing of 12 innocent Iranians by phoning us," Iranian police commander Askandar Moemeni told the ISNA news agency.

Official media reported that the victims were blindfolded, handcuffed and shot in cold blood on the side of a highway between the cities of Kerman and Bam. Their bodies were dumped in a trench.

Only a young boy was spared, but he was reported to be traumatised after witnessing the shootings.

"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, a deputy of Kerman province's governor-general, told state television.