Iran - Baluchestan suicide attack

Sunni group claims Revolutionary Guards killings, says Iran TV

Article published on the 2009-10-18 Latest update 2009-10-18 13:48 TU

Iranian Revolutionary Guards
(Photo: AFP)

The Sunni-Muslim group Jundallah has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed over 30 people, including senior officers in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, according to state-run television.

"Based on the latest information... between 30 to 35 people, including military officers, tribal leaders and local citizens, have been martyred in the attack," Mohammad Marziah, the prosecutor of Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province.

The attack took place in the city of Pisheen, near the border with Pakistan, in Sistan-Baluchestan, which is home to a large Baluch minority. They are Sunni-Muslims, unlike the Iranian government and the majority of the population.

Iran's state broadcaster says that it took place at 8.00am in front of a gymnasium. The officers were preparing to stage a meeting between local Shia and Sunni leaders. Some local tribal leaders were among the dead, according to local media.

"A man wearing an explosives vest blew himself up inside the meeting," the official Irna news agency said.

London-based Iran-watcher Abdulsater Deshouki is certain that the attack is Jundula's work. It is by far the biggest attack that the group has been responsible for so far, he told RFI, although they assassinated a tribal leader three weeks ago.

"This is actually their third suicidal attack in the region in the last 18 months," Deshouki says. "Jundula … issued a statement about four weeks ago warning the tribal leaders and the religious leaders of  Baluchestan not to co-operate with the security forces against the Jundula."

Two of the injured had received personal warnings from the group, he says.

"In this terrorist act, General Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, General Mohammad-Zadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Sistan-Baluchestan province, the Guards' commander for the town of Iranshahr and the commander of the Amir al-Momenin unit died," Irna reported.

Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani confirmed the officers' death in an announcement to parliament which was broadcast on television.

"The goal of the terrorists is to disturb the security of the Sistan-Baluchestan province," he told parliament.

"It shows they do not want to have economic progress in this region. But certainly the Guards will act with more force to establish security in the region."

Tehran accuses Jundallah (Soldiers of God), a Sunni-Muslim group opposed to the Shia government, of regular attacks in the province.