TEHRAN: An explosion at a prominent Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on Thursday killed 30 people and wounded 60,
the semi-official news agency ILNA reported.
The agency said the blast was a suicide bombing but no person or group had claimed responsibility. Shortly after the explosion, security forces discovered and defused a second bomb near the mosque, the semi-official FARS news agency reported. The attack was carried out on a public holiday honouring the first Shi'ite Imam, Ali Ebne-Abitaleb, after whom the mosque is named. Zahedan is a mostly Sunni city.
The provincial governor told state television the explosion occurred at about 7:45 p.m. (1515 GMT) when many people were inside the mosque for prayers. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province which shares a border with Pakistan. The province faces serious security problems and there are frequent clashes between police and drug dealers and bandits. A bomb attack in Zahedan in February 2007 which killed 18 Revolutionary Guards was claimed by Jundallah, an insurgent group that says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority.
The presidents of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan met in the capital Tehran for their first summit on Sunday, in an effort to improve cooperation in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking and tackling other regional security problems. Pakistan and Afghanistan are battling to stem the spread of Taliban insurgencies in their countries, and Iran and Pakistan want a stable Afghanistan because the drugs trade has had a dire effect on Iran and past Afghan violence sent millions of refugees across the border.
Iran is also preparing for a presidential election on June 12, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second term and faces three challengers.
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Iran official blames U.S. in deadly mosque bombing
29 May 2009 11:30:36 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Blast kills more than 20, two weeks before election
* Authorities say 3 arrested over 'terrorist act' (Adds new death toll, quotes, analyst comment, detail)
By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN, May 29 (Reuters) - An Iranian official accused the United States on Friday of involvement in a mosque bombing that killed more than 20 people in volatile south-eastern Iran, two weeks before the Islamic Republic's presidential election.
Jalal Sayyah, of the governor's office in Sistan-Baluchestan province, said three people had been arrested in connection with Thursday's blast in a crowded Shi'ite mosque in the city of Zahedan, in a region where many of Iran's minority Sunnis live.
The explosion, which some officials and media suggested was a suicide bombing, took place on a religious holiday in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim country. More than 80 people were wounded.
Iran has previously accused the United States, its arch-foe, of backing Sunni rebels operating on its border with Pakistan, who Tehran says are linked to the Islamist al Qaeda network.
"The terrorists, who were equipped by America in one of our neighbouring countries, carried out this criminal act in their efforts to create religious conflict and fear and to influence the presidential election," Sayyah told state radio.
He said two children were among the dead. The official IRNA news agency put the death toll at 25, naming all but one of the victims, who were men. Other media cited somewhat lower figures.
The person who detonated the device was standing among men praying in Ali Ebne-Abitaleb mosque and was also killed, provincial judiciary official Ebrahim Hamidi said.
It was one of the deadliest such bombing incidents in Iran since its 1980-88 war with Iraq. A blast in a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz killed 14 people in April last year but the country has been relatively peaceful in a turbulent region.
"It has been confirmed that those behind the terrorist act in Zahedan were hired by America and the arrogance's other hands,"Sayyah told the semi-official Fars News Agency.
Iranian leaders, who often accuse the United States and its allies of seeking to destabilise it, refer to Washington as the "Great Satan" guilty of "global arrogance".
BLOOD-STAINED MOSQUE
Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis, is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits.
A senior cleric blamed Sunni extremists for the bombing but also suggested foreign enemies were involved in a bid to sow discord and conflict between Iran's Shi'ites and Sunnis.
"The fingertips of America and Israel are definitely on this incident,"Ahmad Khatami told Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran. The guilty would be arrested and "severely punished."
Provincial governor Ali Mohammad Azad said the "terrorist team" behind the attack were being interrogated.
Defence analyst Paul Beaver said it was "highly unlikely" that the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who is seeking to engage Tehran diplomatically after three decades of mutual mistrust, would support Sunni insurgents in Iran.
He said history had shown that backing guerrilla groups to effect regime change was "ineffectual and wrong, and the present U.S. administration does not want to be tarnished in that way".
In April, Iran's intelligence minister said it had arrested a group of people linked to Israel who were planning bombings ahead of the June 12 election, in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking a second four-year term.
Presidential hopefuls including moderate former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi condemned the incident.
Iranian media said a big part of the mosque was destroyed by the blast, which took place when many people were inside. Footage showed a blood-stained floor inside.
A bomb attack in Zahedan in early 2007 which killed 18 Revolutionary Guards was claimed by Jundollah (God's Soldiers), an insurgent group that says it is fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni minority but which Tehran says is part of al Qaeda. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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Iran hangs three men over mosque bombing
Three admitted supplying explosives to perpetrators of Zahedan attack this week that killed 25, judiciary says
Three men were hanged in Iran today for involvement in a mosque bombing that killed 25 people this week, the country's official news agency reported.
The three supplied explosives to the perpetrators of the bombing on Thursday in Zahedan, capital of the volatile Sistan-Baluchestan province in eastern Iran, said a statement issued by the judiciary.
Ebrahim Hamidi, the head of the justice department in Zahedan, said the men had been arrested before the bombing and had since "confessed to importing explosives into Iran and providing them to the main person behind the attack".
He said the men, identified as Haji Nouti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Shahoo Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui, were involved in several other bombings including a bus attack in 2006.
Jundallah, or God's Brigade, a Sunni militant group believed to have links with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack. The group is composed of Sunni Muslims from the Baluchi ethnic minority who for years have been fighting a low-level insurgency in south-eastern Iran, complaining of persecution by the overwhelmingly Shia and Persian Iranian government.
In March 2006, gunmen dressed as security forces killed 21 people on a road outside Zahedan in an attack that authorities blamed on "rebels".
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My dad just laughed
i couldnt get anything else out of him when I mentioned the bombing of the Mosque in Zahedan other than his comment, "I been there".
US denies involvement in Zahedan blast
[Iran Press TV Latest] The US State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly says that the US was not involved in the bombing of a mosque in southeastern Iran.
I loved the photos showing blood on the ceiling and the pic of one dead muz in the middle of the marble floor ( it looked like a soldier in some sort of uniform ) who looked like he had been blown right out of his skin.
Dad looked at the photo and said, "pasdaran" and laughed.
there is a rumor re-enforced by Rigi of the Jundullah who claim the blast was theirs that the Mosque was hosting a big meeting of local Pasdaran and that was why it was hit.
Apparently Jundullah got quite a few. Zahedan is going apeshi7 over it.
its close to election time in Iran in another Month and there are bombs popping in other places and some gunmen shot up a political rally for Abujibberjabber. Iran is that kinda place. Good luck Iran.
What if Florida were full of Arabs like Khuzestan province is in Iran and they all really hated Persians ? And wht if at the same time Arizona and New Mexico didnt pay any taxes and killed about 1600 FBI a year? Nobody in the FBI lasted more than six weeks once they went down there. What if the United States had only ONE rail line in the entire country and they rationed gasoline so you had to wait in two mile lines to get a tank filled( after you paid the tax and filled out the paper work).
Welcome to Iran where they buy votes with a bag of potatoes. Ya Allah and PBUH.
If I were Obama I wouldnt "talk" with these people. I would use them for a piss can. The International sanctions have them paying double and everybody under 25 hates the mullah govt. Skip to my loo.
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Author: Seraph1
Date: 30-05-09 13:56
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Jun 1, 11:19 AM EDT
Arson attack in restive Iranian city kills 5
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AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An arson attack on a bank killed five people on Monday in a southeastern Iranian city where a mosque bombing days earlier killed 25, state media said.
The attacks were both in the restive city of Zahedan, which sits at a crossroads between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran and has seen a sudden explosion of violence in the run-up to June 12 presidential election.
The mosque bombing on Thursday was claimed by a Sunni militant group Jundallah, or God's Soldiers, which Iran says has links to al-Qaida. The group has been fighting a low-level campaign against Iran's Shiite leadership for years.
State-owned Press TV said the arson attack targeted the Mehr Financial and Credit Institute, linked to the paramilitary Basij militia which is often involved in crackdowns on dissidents.
The state news agency said the city was now calm and police had arrested suspects.
Three men convicted of involvement in the mosque bombing were hanged in Zahedan on Saturday. Clashes erupted Sunday in the city after rumors that a local Sunni cleric had been attacked. On Friday, gunmen fired on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's campaign office in Zahedan, injuring three people.
Pakistan's ambassador to Iran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the bombing, the state news agency reported. Two Pakistani officials said Monday that Iran had partially closed a border crossing between the two countries.
Qamar Masood, a senior official in Baluchistan province on the Pakistan side of the border, said the crossing at Taftan had been closed for trading but that foot traffic was still being allowed.
The country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused enemies of promoting sectarian conflicts in Iran. Though he did not name any country, the use of the term "enemy" by Iranian officials is usually a reference to the U.S.
"Enemies were trying to create chaos but all people should remain aware," Khamenei said Monday on state radio, adding that the enemy was targeting national unity in the country.
Zahedan is the capital of the large Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to a million of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority. Sunnis are believed to make up some 6 million of Iran's 70 million people.
Jundallah, has carried out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks against Iranian soldiers since the early 2000s to press its campaign for more rights for impoverished Sunnis under Iran's Shiite government.
Iran says the group operates across the border in Pakistan, a source of concerns for the two governments which cooperate closely on the problem.
The region's Sunni discontent has led to sectarian rioting and clashes in the past.
The Sunnis are from Iran's ethnic Baluchi minority, a community also found over the borders in neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Iran has repeatedly accused the U.S. of backing militants including Jundallah specifically and ethnic opposition groups to destabilize the Iranian government.
The militant group was behind a car bombing in February 2007 that killed 11 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards near Zahedan.
Jundallah also claimed responsibility for the December 2006 kidnapping of seven Iranian soldiers in the Zahedan area. The seven were released a month later, apparently after negotiations through tribal mediators.
Adding to the region's lawlessness, the crossroads between the three countries is also a key smuggling point for narcotics. It is scene of frequent clashes between police and drug gangs.
Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have carried out sporadic, sometimes deadly attacks in recent years - though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.
Besides the violence in the southeast, ethnic Arab militants have been blamed for bombings in the southwestern city of Ahvaz - including blasts in 2006 that killed nine people. Some Iranian Kurds based in northern Iraq have also stepped up incursions into Iran.
Late on Saturday, an Iranian airliner was also forced to return to a southeastern airport minutes after takeoff when a homemade bomb was found aboard, said state television, in an incident a security official called a sabotage.
(This version CORRECTS translation of Jundallah.)
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