Iran blames Sunni extremists, U.S. for deadly mosque bombing

[Coventina]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Tehran -- Iranian authorities are blaming the United States and Sunni Muslim extremists for the bombing of a mosque Thursday in the country's southeast that left as many as 23 people dead and scores injured during a Shiite Muslim holiday.

The bombing rocked the provincial capital of Zahedan, where emergency vehicles ferried passengers to local hospitals into the night. The ethnically and religiously mixed region bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan has long been the scene of drug trafficking and tribal banditry.

Authorities todayannounced the arrest of three suspects, who allegedly crossed into Iran from the barren desert border with the aim of sowing political and sectarian discord before the June 12 presidential election.

"Evidence shows that these people had direct involvement in the terrorist operation and were linked to enemies outside the borders of the country," said Jalal Sayyah, deputy governor-general of the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, according to a report by the semi-official Fars News Agency. "This group aimed to create religious disputes, intimidate people and undermine elections in the country by their futile action."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-bombs30-2009may30,0,5032616.story

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. I am surprised that they have not blamed the little satan (Isreal) as well as the Great Satan (USA)

[thewiseguy]

2. Its time you further educated yourself 'professor'

DUBAI, May 29 (Reuters) - A Sunni opposition group called Jundallah said on Friday it was behind a blast in a crowded Shi'ite mosque that killed 25 people on Thursday, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT998715.htm

According to an April 2007 report by Brian Ross and Christopher Isham of ABC News, the United States government had been secretly encouraging and advising the Jundullah in its attacks against Iranian targets. This support is said to have started in 2005 and arranged so that the United States provided no direct funding to the group, which would require congressional oversight and attract media attention.<14> The report was denied by Pakistan official sources <15>.

On April 2, 2007, Abdul Malik Rigi, appeared on the Iranian branch of the Voice of America, the official broadcasting service of the United States government, which identified Rigi as "the leader of popular Iranian resistance movement". This incident resulted in public condemnation by Persian-American communities in the U.S, as well as the Iranian government.<19><20><21><22>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jundallah

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. I have read up on the situation...its that when *anything* negative happens they always find some

reason to blame Israel (the little Satan) or "Jews" as well as the US.

[thewiseguy]

4. Not sure why you are trying to make this about the "Jews" or "Israel".

:eyes:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. My point is that Iran *always* blames that Great and Little Satan for *everthing*

[SOS]

11. Bob Baer says US is funding terrorists inside Iran

One of the most active and violent anti-regime groups in Iran today is the Jundallah, also known as the Iranian People’s Resistance Movement, which describes itself as a resistance force fighting for the rights of Sunnis in Iran.
“This is a vicious Salafi organization whose followers attended the same madrassas as the Taliban and Pakistani extremists,” Nasr told me. “They are suspected of having links to Al Qaeda.” The Jundallah took responsibility for the bombing of a busload of Revolutionary Guard soldiers in February, 2007. At least eleven Guard members were killed. According to Baer and to press reports, the Jundallah is among the groups in Iran that are benefitting from U.S. support.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh

[ohio2007]

14. Didn't Seymour M. Hersh predict a June invasion of Iran for the past five years now?

Your OpEd article is by Seymour M. Hersh.

Preparing the Battlefield
The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.
by Seymour M. Hersh
July 7, 2008

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh

He's been crying wolf since Feb '04 I doubt Obama will fulfill his prophesy either unless he updates his old articles with an Obama connection to the CIA ;)
:tinfoilhat:
:popcorn:
Got any links from this Bob Baer guy ?
?
Does he know the "Man vs. Wild" Baer ? He may be looking to invading Iran just to see if he could survive an invasion

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zG660dzV_rs/SR1kWuACsQI/AAAAAAAACr4/i_tgOEnDEHU/s320/Bear+building+raft.jpg

[Fozzledick]

7. Actually, they DID blame Israel

further down in the article in the OP:

"The hands of America and Israel were undoubtedly involved in this incident," prayer leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told supporters in Tehran. "Although Wahhabis and the infidel and evil Salafists were an accomplice to the crime, they were being led from somewhere else."

from the Jerusalem Post:

Iran blames US, Israel for deadly mosque bomb

Iran blamed the US and Israel on Friday for a bombing in a Shi'ite mosque in southeast Iran that killed 25 people, saying the countries were trying to stoke sectarian tension with the Sunni Muslim minority.

Iran has repeatedly accused the US and other Western countries of backing militants and opposition groups in the country - charges they have denied. The blame could be intended to mask real sectarian issues between Iran's Sunnis and majority Shiite population.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1243346501821&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. Wouldn't be the first time the USA messed around with Iranian politics

.
.
.

USA messes around with many countries

so I'm leaning toward believing the Iranian's claim

[Igel]

9. Also wouldn't be the first time there

was Sunni-on-Shi'ite violence, or Balochis committed some act of violence. Esp. since the Balochis in Iran aren't exactly the Persians' favorite people.

Baluchistan in Pakistan in the last 5 or 6 years has had portions barely (at best) under government control, and the nationalist/independence movement there is strong. That it crosses the border should surprise no one.

[ohio2007]

8. Somebody is looking for votes next month

feeding on fear works


http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish

[ohio2007]

10. Iran calls in Pakistan envoy over mosque bomb ( Iran is not India )

not much a lawyer can do to investigate the US/Israel connection now is there ?

TEHRAN: Iran summoned Pakistan’s ambassador over the deadly bombing of a mosque in the southeast after Sunni rebels reportedly claimed responsibility, the official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.

Mohammad Bakhsh Abbasi was summoned after Iran’s state television quoted the pan-Arab channel Al-Arabiya as saying that the Jandullah (Soldiers of God) group said it was behind Thursday’s mosque attack which killed 25 people.


snip



The Iranian authorities said they immediately arrested three men involved in the bombing.

The trio were executed on Saturday morning

near the mosque in Zahedan city, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province.
snip

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/14-iran-calls-in-pakistan-envoy-over-mosque-bomb-zj-10

How convienant... that dead men can't talk

while the Gitmo trials still not ready to begin. Maybe Iranian should be dispensing the "justice" in Cuba.
:sarcasm:

Justice has been served and the ISI can sleep well bc of it.

[ohio2007]

12. Iran shuts its border with Pakistan

QUETTA: Iran has closed its border with Pakistan at Taftan and informed the Pakistani government about its decision
snip
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/13+iran+shuts+its+border+with+pakistan-za-11

Will Pakistan lodge a protest?

[ohio2007]

13. Pakistan vows to wipe out Jundullah ( the plot thickens as Pakistan must open another front )

TEHRAN: The interior ministry of Pakistan aims to wipe out Jundullah terrorist group, an organisation that has claimed responsibility for an attack on a mosque in southeastern Iran, reports the Fars News Agency (FNA).

Pakistan’s interior ministry has presented all its information on Jundullah to the country’s intelligence services which include the ISI, MI and FIA. The ministry has also urged for the identification of group members and the immediate arrest of the ringleader Abdulmalek Rigi, according to FNA.

The report goes on to say Islamabad has ordered the group be disbanded and wiped out. The chief of the Iranian armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, said Iran had located the base of the group and informed the Pakistani government of Abdulmalek Rigi’s position. According to media reports, the group’s spokesman Abdoulrauf Rigi contacted the Pakistan office of al-Arabiya television network to report a bombing in a mosque in the Sisatn-Baluchestan province last week to claim responsibility for the attack. So far Jundullah has claimed responsibility for a dozen terrorist operations in Iran, however according to the FNA, they have managed to escape punishment by crossing into Pakistan.

Tehran has warned Islamabad that it has the power and military means to trace and hunt down terrorist groups in Pakistan if such activity is not stopped by Pakistan.

Since the attack, Iran has closed down its border with Pakistan.


http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/19-pakistan-vows-to-wipe-out-jundullah-terror-group-sf-05

[ohio2007]

15. Five killed in ‘arson attack’ as Iran unrest mounts

TEHRAN: Five people were killed in an arson attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Monday, the second deadly incident there in the run-up to Iran’s presidential election this month.

Five employees of the local subsidiary of financial company Mehr Financial and Credit Institution perished ‘after an arson attack set the building ablaze,’ the English-language Press TV said.The attack came after 25 people were killed in the bombing of a Shia mosque in Zahedan on Thursday, one of a string of violent incidents ahead of the June 12 election where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is facing three challengers.


snip

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/14-five-killed-in-arson-attack-as-iran-unrest-mounts-zj-02

Another "hanging" later this week ?