Azerbaijan Arrests Suspects “Linked to Iran” over Shooting of MP

Azerbaijan has arrested four people in connection with last week’s attempted killing of a member of parliament with strong anti-Iranian views, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on April 3.

The spokesman declined to give details of the suspects who an Azerbaijani news site claimed were working on the order of Iranian security forces.

Fazil Mustafa, a lawmaker known in Azerbaijan’s parliament as an outspoken critic of Iran, was hospitalized with gunshot wounds after being shot with a Kalashnikov assault rifle late on March 28, according to the State Security Service (DTX).

DTX described the shooting, which came amid heightened tensions between Azerbaijan and its southern neighbor, as a "terrorist attack."

Mustafa’s assistant, Ajdar Aliyev, told Reuters news agency that the politician was feeling well and expected to return to his home, which he said was under police guard, in the coming days.

The Azerbaijani Turan news site identified the four suspects in the case as Azer Sarijanov, described as a religious activist known as "Haji Azer," Sabuhi Shirinov, Elshad Askerov and Emin Aliyev.

Baku and Tehran have often had strained relations.

In January, Azerbaijan closed its embassy in Tehran after what it called a "terrorist attack" that killed the diplomatic mission’s head of security.

Ethnic Azeris number more than 12 million people in Iran and represent the country's largest minority group.