WORLD / Middle East
Bomb explodes in southeastern Iran
(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-17 08:43
TEHRAN, Iran - Police and insurgents clashed after a bombing in
southeastern Iran late Friday near the site where an explosion killed 11
members of the elite Revolutionary Guards this week, Iranian news
agencies reported.
People gather around as the remains of a bus is lifted from the scene
following an explosion in Zahedan, southeastern of Iran, on Wednesday,
Feb. 14, 2007. [AP]
"Minutes ago, the sound of a bomb explosion was heard in one of Zahedan's
streets," the state-run news agency IRNA said, without giving more
details.
The semiofficial Fars news agency said clashes broke out between Iranian
police and armed insurgents after the explosion.
Fars quoted the governor of Zahedan, Hasan Ali Nouri, as saying the blast
was a "sound bomb explosion"- a device that creates a loud boom but that
usually does not cause casualties.
Nouri said there was gunfire heard but that it was late at night and that
police had cordoned off the area.
On Wednesday, a car bomb blew up a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards,
killing 11, in Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, which
sits on the border with Pakistan.
A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God's Brigade, which
has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops, has claimed
responsibility for the Wednesday bombing.
Iran has accused the United States of backing militants to destabilize
the country. Tensions between Tehran and Washington are growing over
allegations of Iranian involvement in attacks on US troops in Iraq, and
over Iran's nuclear activities.
Fars said the Friday explosion was at a school in Zahedan.
"The insurgents began shooting at people after the explosion. Clashes are
continuing between police and the armed insurgents. Police have cordoned
off the area," the Fars agency said.
IRNA quoted an unnamed "responsible official" late Friday as saying that
one of those arrested on charges of involvement in Wednesday's bombing,
identified as Nasrollah Shanbe Zehi, has confessed that the attacks were
part of alleged US plans to provoke ethnic and religious violence in Iran.
The confessions by Zehi helped police detain an unspecified number of
Jundallah members and confiscate weapons and documents from the group in
a raid Thursday in Zahedan, IRNA also said.
A majority of Iran's population are Shiite Muslims but minority Sunnis
live in southeastern Iran.
Friday's blast came just hours after the funeral of the 11 Revolutionary
Guardsmen in the capital.
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