BEIRUT: The Sunni rebel leader Abdolmalek Rigi, arrested this week by Iran, said the US offered him a base, cash and weapons, in apparent admissions shown on Iranian state television.

Iranian authorities said Mr Rigi's group, Jundallah, was responsible for several deadly attacks in south-eastern Iran and was backed by the US.

He had been provided with an Afghan passport and had been at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before the arrest, which followed a five-month hunt, they said. The US said the allegation was ''bogus''.

Iran's Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, said Mr Rigi had been caught on a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan and brought to Iran.

Pakistan's ambassador to Iran, Mohammad Abbasi, said on Wednesday that his country had assisted in Mr Rigi's arrest, without providing details, the Iranian state-run Fars news agency reported.