The National Security Ministry announced March 14 that the 22, all Azerbaijan citizens, had been trained in Iran by the Pasdaran.
In February, Azerbaijan announced the arrest of another suspected terrorist group allegedly working for Iran’s secret services, and in January it arrested two people accused of plotting to kill two teachers at a Jewish school in Baku.
In 2007, Azerbaijan convicted 15 people in connection with an alleged Iranian-linked spy network accused of gathering intelligence on Western and Israeli activities.
As for the new band of 22 alleged terrorists, Azerbaijani authorities said an Iranian Pasdar operative, Akbar Pakravesh, recruited an Azeri identified as N. Kerimov while he was in Iran in 1999 and gave him the job of assembling a group of other Azerbaijanis.
The Security Ministry said in its statement that Pakravesh met with members of the group in Moscow and in Damascus, giving them financing and equipment.
Automatic assault rifles, grenades, ammunition and explosives were seized during the group’s arrest, officials said.
Planned targets included diplomatic missions, the offices of a Jewish organization, the local headquarters of the BP oil firm and an American-themed fast food restaurant.