The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz is an ethnic terrorist group campaigning for the independence of Iran's Arab minority, most of which is located in Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province.  Khuzestan, which was devastated during the Iran-Iraq war, is one of the poorest and least developed regions in Iran. Much of the Arab population that occupies the region believes the Persian-dominated government discriminates against Arab Iranians, denying them the benefits of the oil wealth that flows from their province.<br /><p><br />The group has claimed responsibility for two deadly attacks in Ahvaz. The first, carried out June 12, 2005, was a series of four bomb blasts which killed 8 people and injured 75. The attack occurred five days before the Iranian elections. According to a statement made by the group, its Moheddine al-Nasser Martyr Brigade, named after an  Arab resistance fighter executed in Ahvaz in 1964, was responsible. While other groups, including the Arbav Martyrs of Khuzestan, have also claimed responsibility for the attack, it is likely that these "groups" are cover names for a single organization. <br /><p><br />Arab terrorist groups in Khuzestan often merge, splinter and change names, making them extremely fluid. Single attacks are often claimed by multiple organizations and it is difficult to discern if the organizations are separate groups or a single group operating under multiple names. This constant identity-changing also makes it difficult to determine whether a group is actually new or just a rechristened existing group. <br /><p><br />The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz also claimed responsibility for a two-bomb attack in Ahvaz on January 24, 2006 which killed nine people and injured 46. At the time of the attack, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was supposed to be giving a speech in the city, but it had previously been cancelled, reportedly due to bad weather. The group, in claiming responsibility, said the attack was ""revenge for the blood of our martyrs" and a signal of "rejection to the terrorist Ahmadinejad's defiling the land of Ahvaz in his visit." The statement of responsibility for the attack was carried on the website of the Ahvazi Arabic Revolution, an umbrella group which includes a number of smaller groups dedicated to the independence of Ahvazi and Iran's Arab minority. <br />