Revolutionary Guard commanders killed in Iran bomb

[SolusInAeternum2]

Revolutionary Guard commanders killed in Iran bomb

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran — A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard and at least 15 others in an area of southeastern Iran that has been at the center of a simmering Sunni insurgency, state media reported.

The official IRNA news agency said the dead included the deputy commander of the Guard's ground force, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief provincial Guard commander for the area, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. The other dead were Guard members or local tribal leaders. Dozens of others were wounded, the report said.

The commanders were inside a car on their way to a meeting with local tribal leaders in the Pishin district near Iran's border with Pakistan when an attacker with explosives blew himself up, IRNA said.

Iran's state-owned English language TV channel, Press TV, said there were two simultaneous explosions: one at the meeting and another targeting an additional convoy of Guards on their way to the gathering.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the region in Iran's southeast has been the focus of violent attacks by a militant group from Iran's Sunni Muslim minority called Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which has waged a low-level insurgency in recent years.

The group accuses Iran's Shiite-dominated government of persecution and has carried out attacks against the Revolutionary Guard and Shiite targets in the southeast.

That campaign is one of several ethnic and religious small-scale insurgencies in Iran that have fueled sporadic and sometimes deadly attacks in recent years — though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.

The Revolutionary Guard blamed Sunday's attack on what it called the "global arrogance," a reference to the United States.

"The global arrogance, with the provocation of its local mercenaries, targeted the meeting of the Guard with local tribal leaders," said a Guard statement read out on state TV.

Iranian officials have often raised concerns that Washington might try to incite members of Iran's many ethnic and religious minorities against the Shiite-led government, which is dominated by ethnic Persians.

The Guard commanders targeted Sunday were heading to a meeting with local tribal leaders to promote unity between the Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities.

In April, Iran increased security in Sistan-Baluchistan Province, at the center of the tension, by placing it under the command of the Guard, which took over from local police forces.

The 120,000-strong Revolutionary Guard controls Iran's missile program and has its own ground, naval and air units.

Iran's parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, condemned the assassination of the Guard commanders, saying the bombing was aimed at disrupting security in southeastern Iran.

"We express our condolences for their martyrdom. ... The intention of the terrorists was definitely to disrupt security in Sistan-Baluchistan Province," Larijani told an open session of the parliament broadcast live on state radio.

In May, Jundallah took credit for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed 25 people in Zahedan, the capital of Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province, which has witnessed some of Jundallah's worst attacks. Thirteen members of the faction were convicted in the attack and hanged in July.

Jundallah is made up of Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic minority, which can also be found in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The group has carried out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks against Iranian soldiers and other forces in recent years, including a car bombing in February 2007 that killed 11 members of the Revolutionary Guard near Zahedan.

Jundallah also claimed responsibility for the December 2006 kidnapping of seven Iranian soldiers in the Zahedan area. It threatened to kill them unless members of the group in Iranian prisons were released. The seven were released a month later, apparently after negotiations through tribal mediators.

[SolusInAeternum2]

Two Iranian generals among 60-70 victims of suicide bombing in southeast province

Two of the five senior Revolutionary Guards commanders killed by a suicide bomber in Sitan-Baluchistan Sunday, Oct. 18, were identified as Gen. Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the IRGC ground forces, and Gen. Mohammad-Zadeh, chief IRGC commander of the province. The suicide bomber detonated his vest as the officers entered a hall in the town of Sarbaz to lead a peace conference between Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders of this predominantly Sunni province.

Iran state TV accused Britain of complicity in the attack.

The loss of top IRGC commanders is a grave blow to the elite corps. DEBKAfile's Iranian and counter terror sources report Gen. Shuhstari's covert position as commander of the Al Qods Brigades' bases abroad, in such places as Iran and Afghanistan and in support of the Hizballah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Al Qods runs the IRGC terrorist campaigns outside Iran.

Shushtari was also Gen. Qassem Suleimeni, the Revolutionary Guards' chief's deputy.

The Sunni Jundallah underground, which is strongly opposed to the Shiite government of Iran, appears to be behind the attack. The assassin would have mingled with the officers entering the hall and blowing himself up in their midst - a method used by al Qaeda in Iraq to blow away Sunni tribal leaders working with the US army.

Iran's state media did not immediately release separate numbers of dead and injured. The 50-60 victims appear to include at least 20 dead, including 5 senior commanders, although only two were named.

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani made a special announcement to inform lawmakers of the attack, charging that "Western elements" were behind it.

Our sources describe Jundallah as a Baluchi terrorist group fighting for Baluchi independence of Iran. According to some Western and Iranian sources, it is supported by the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence agency and the CIA. In 2007, Jundallah staged a failed assassination attempt on president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Tehran has since pestered Islamabad to rein in the group to no avail.

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in this context, what is the difference between the United States and Israel ?

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 89932.html

"Mohammad Marandi, an assistant professor at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera that officials suspected the group was linked to Saudi Arabia, the US and Britain.

"Iranian officials are very confident that the terrorist group behind the attack was funded by the Saudis and supported by the Americans and the British," he said.

"I think the greatest blow [from this attack] is to any Iranian trust with regards to the Americans.

"On the one hand, the Americans are talking about rapprochement and building a new future, yet at the same time we see the Americans supporting groups in [Iran's] Kurdish regions as well as in Sistan-Baluchestan." "

if another country did this to the US, it would be called an act of war.  unless Israel did it, in which case it would be called "part of that special relationship".

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Iran asks Pakistan to hand over terrorists

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=1 ... =351020101

After Jundallah group takes responsibility for the deadly attack in southeast Iran, Interior Minister calls on Islamabad to hand over the terrorists to Tehran for trial.

"Pakistan's negligence to submitting terrorists to Iran cannot be justified by any means. The Pakistani officials should be accountable to the terrorists attack in Sarbaz town," Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik.

"Iran looks for a practical measure by the Pakistani government," he added as he voiced strong protest of the Iranian government and nation to Pakistani authorities.

At least 42 people, including ranking commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) were killed by an explosion during a unity conference between Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in the borderline city of Pishin in Sistan-Baluchistan on Sunday.

The Pakistan-based terrorist group Jundallah, a closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization, accepted responsibility for the deadly attack.

Malik expressed Pakistan's "extreme grief" over the terrorist attack in Iran and assured his Iranian counterpart of complete cooperation for every possible help.

Pakistan will keep up the war against terrorism as it is a victim of terrorism and engaged in fight with extremists groups, he added.

The Pakistan-based Jundallah, led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has staged a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran.

In a recent interview with Press TV, Rigi's brother, Abdulhamid, confirmed that the Jundallah leader had established links with the US agents.

His brother said that in just one of his meetings with the US operatives, Rigi had received $100,000 to fuel sectarianism in Iran.

SF/DT