TEHRAN: A man blew himself up at a meeting of the elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran on Sunday, killing seven commanders and at least 35 others in an attack Tehran said was plotted on Pakistani soil.
Several tribal leaders at the meeting in Sistan-Baluchestan province also died in the blast while 28 people were injured.
The attacker set off his explosives belt as the meeting got under way around 8.00 a.m. at a gymnasium in the city of Pisheen, near the border with Pakistan, state television said.
Fars news agency identified some of the dead and said the bomber struck when Guards officers were meeting local Shiite and Sunni leaders.
The chief prosecutor in Sistan-Baluchestan, Mohammad Marziah, said that Abdolmalek Rigi, the head of the shadowy rebel group, Jundallah, had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Among the dead, Fars said, were Gen. Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the Guards’ ground forces; Gen. Mohammad Zadeh, Guards’ commander in Sistan-Baluchestan province; the Guards’ commander for the town of Iranshahr; and the commander of the Amir Al-Momeneen unit. Three other commanders from the adjacent province of Kerman were also killed.
The ISNA news agency said Iran summoned Islamabad’s envoy to Tehran over the bombing, claiming those behind the attack had used Pakistani soil as a springboard. It said the Foreign Ministry had called Pakistan’s charge d’affaires and “expressed Tehran’s regret to Pakistan’s envoy (that) members of the terrorist group involved in the incident entered Iran through Pakistan.”
The ministry urged Pakistani authorities to act firmly to prevent the movement of those terrorists and rebels in their country.”
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned of swift retribution against those who carried out the attack. “I am ordering the relevant officials to identify quickly the elements of this terrorist crime and hand them over to the judiciary,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Guards’ ground forces, vowed retaliation against those behind the assault. “The Guards will give a very harsh and crushing response to this group, so the group will never be able to launch another act like this in the country,” Pakpour was quoted as saying by Fars.
Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said the United States was behind the attack. “Mr. Obama has said he will extend his hand toward Iran, but with this terrorist action he has burned his hand,” he said referring to US President Barack Obama’s repeated diplomatic overtures to Tehran.
The United States denied any involvement.
