31 killed in Iran suicide bombing
TEHRAN, Iran,Oct 18 – Agencies
Five Revolutionary Guard commanders among dead
A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard and at least 26 others in an area of southeastern Iran that has been at the centre of a simmering Sunni insurgency, state media reported.
The IRNA news agency said the dead included deputy commander of the Guard’s ground force Gen Noor Ali Shooshtari as well as the Guard’s chief provincial commander Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. Dozens of others were wounded, the report said.
The commanders were inside a car on their way to a meeting in the Pishin region near Iran’s border with Pakistan when an attacker with explosives blew himself up, IRNA said.
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 the security in Sistan-Baluchistan Province,” Larijani told an open session of the parliament broadcast live on state radio.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion would likely fall on the Sunni militant group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which has carried out attacks against the Revolutionary Guard and Shiite targets in southeastern Iran.
The Revolutionary Guard was created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution as an ideological bulwark to defend Iran’s clerical rule. The 1.20 lakh strong elite force controls Iran’s missile programme and has its own ground, naval and air units.
