Iran accuses U.S. of backing Sunni Muslim rebels

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran accused the United States on Saturday of supporting a Sunni Muslim rebel group which said on Friday it had killed two of 16 Iranian policemen kidnapped last week in a volatile area near the border with Pakistan.

Predominantly Shi'ite Iran has previously linked the group, Jundollah (God's Soldiers), to al Qaeda, but government spokesman Gholamhossin Elham did not repeat that on Saturday.

"This terrorist group, which is supported by the Americans, has a history of such terrorist acts," Elham told reporters without giving details.

Iran has often accused Washington and London of trying to destabilize the country by supporting rebels, mainly in sensitive border areas.

Jundollah said on Friday it had killed two policemen and threatened to kill the 14 others it is holding unless Tehran meets demands including the release of jailed comrades, Al Arabiya television reported.

It said a spokesman identified as Abdul-Raouf had told Arabiya by phone that the group had decided to kill the men after the Iranian government executed two Sunnis in its custody.

The Arab network screened a video of two blindfolded men kneeling on the ground but said it could not show the full footage of the killings to avoid disturbing viewers.

Iran and the United States are engaged in a standoff over Tehran's disputed nuclear ambitions. Washington also accuses the Islamic Republic of backing Shi'ite militias in Iraq, a charge Iranian officials deny.

Elham said Iranian authorities were investigating the reported killings. "It is likely that (Jundollah's) claims are a psychological maneuver and nothing more. And, consequently, one cannot confirm their propaganda and psychological ploys," the spokesman said.

He also suggested the kidnapping was in response to a crackdown on the group: "They should ... anticipate additional blows from Iranian security forces".

Iranian media reported on June 13 that bandits had kidnapped 16 policemen and taken them to nearby Pakistan after attacking a police station in the volatile province of Sistan-Baluchestan, notorious for frequent clashes with drug smugglers and home to Iran's mostly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchis.

In 2007, Jundollah claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying Iranian Revolutionary Guards that killed 11 people.

Iranian officials have said that the group's leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was a leader of al Qaeda's network in Iran.

(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Catherine Evans)