| 2009 Zahedan bombing | |
|---|---|
 Sistan and Baluchistan Province shown within Iran | |
| Location | Zahedan, Iran |
| Date | May 28, 2009 |
| Deaths | 30 |
| Injured | 60 |
| Perpetrators | Jundullah |
The 2009 Zahedan bombing was an explosion on May 28, 2009 that occurred during Maghrib prayers in Zahedan killing 30 people and wounding 60. [1] There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The governor of Sistan and Baluchestan reported that "a group of terrorists were arrested as they were trying to escape from the province". [2]
Zahedan is the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, shares a border with Pakistan and is the scene of frequent clashes between Iranian police and drug dealers, and militants and terrorists such as Jundallah. In 2007, there was another bombing in the same region that killed eleven people. [3]
This explosion probably was carried out by a group seeking to start a war between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. [4] One day after the attack, Abdel Raouf Rigi, described as a spokesman for the Jundallah group, told Saudi-owned TV channel Al-Arabiya that a suicide bomber had targeted a secret meeting of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards inside the Amir al-Momineen mosque. [5]
On May 30, 2009, three men convicted of smuggling the bombing material and explosives from Pakistan to Iran were publicly executed by hanging near the mosque. All three men were already in detention when bombing occurred and had been tried for a string of bombings claimed by Jundallah in past. [6] A spokesman for the Sistan-Baluchestan provincial judiciary said the three people "confessed to illegally bringing explosives into Iran and giving them to the main person behind the bombing". [7]
The Fars news agency quoted witnesses saying the incident had been a suicide attack. [3] The bomb was suspected to have been put in a briefcase on the men's side of the mosque. The bomb is estimated to have been activated around the time for evening prayer, when the mosque was packed with worshippers on a public holiday. [6] Amir al-Mohmenin mosque is an important shia mosque in Zahedan. [6]
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami stated that he believed the United States and Israel had a hand in the attack. He specifically accused the US of supporting Sunni rebels operating on the border with Pakistan, who are also linked the Al-Qaeda. [8] He also stated "Although those who planted the bomb are the malicious and non-believer Wahabbis and Salafis, the real masterminds are others. Those who planned the crime wanted to undermine the Supreme Leader’s move to help build closer bonds between Shiites and Sunnis during his recent visit to Kurdestan. It is clear that our Shiite and Sunni brothers are vigilant about the plots of the enemies who wish to create discord among them". [9] After three of the attackers were arrested, Khatami announced "According to the information obtained they were hired by America and the agents of the arrogance". Interior minister Sadegh Mahsooli also accused Israel and the US of supporting the terrorists. [10] Jalal Sayah, deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, accused the United States of sponsoring terror and hiring mercenaries to attack Iran. [6] [11] Iranian speaker of parliament Ali Larijani, three days after the terror attack claimed that Iran has intelligence reports regarding the United States links with certain terrorist groups operating against Iran and accused United States, of commanding them and trying to start a civil war between Shia and Sunni segments of Iranian society. Regarding the investigation of bombing, he said that Iran would want Pakistan to cooperate fully and not become a mere part of the designs against Iran. [11]
The US denied the accusation, replying "We do not sponsor any form of terrorism anywhere in the world. Never have, never will." [10]
United States - White house Spokesmen Robert Gibbs said "The United States strongly condemns the recent terrorist attacks inside Iran, the American people send their deepest condolences to the victims and their families. No cause justifies terrorism, and the United States condemns it in any form, in any country, against any people." US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly stated "We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms, and extend our sympathies to the families injured and killed, We note with concern a recent trend of bombings of Shiite mosques in Iraq and Pakistan as well as in Iran and strongly condemn any kind of sectarian driven violence." [10] According to many sources, Jundallah has ties to al-Qaeda. [12] [13] [14] Iran has been critical of the U.S. and U.K. governments for supporting Jundallah. Several sources such as the ABC News, Daily Telegraph, and journalist Seymour Hersh have also reported that Jundullah has received support from the United States against Iran. [15] [16] [17] [18]
Jundallah, also known as the People's Resistance Movement of Iran (PRMI), was a Sunni Salafi militant organization based in Sistan and Baluchestan, a province in southeast Iran. The group shared its name with another Baloch group active in Pakistani Balochistan as part of the same insurgency, that claims to be fighting for the "equal rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran".
The Insurgency in Balochistan is an insurgency or revolt by Baloch separatist insurgents and various Islamist militant groups against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and Balochistan of southern Afghanistan. Rich in natural resources, this is the largest, least populated and least developed province in Pakistan and Iran, and armed groups demand greater control of the province's natural resources and political autonomy. Baloch separatists have attacked civilians from other ethnicities throughout the province. In the 2010s, attacks against the Shia community by sectarian groups—though not always directly related to the political struggle—have risen, contributing to tensions in Balochistan. In Pakistan, the ethnic separatist insurgency is low-scale but ongoing mainly in southern Balochistan, as well as sectarian and religiously motivated militancy concentrated mainly in northern and central Balochistan.
Numerous civilians, including men, women, children, government officials, activists, secular intellectuals and clerics have been victims of assassination, terrorism, or violence against non-combatants, over the course of modern Iranian history. Among the most notable acts of terrorism in Iran in the 20th century have been the 1978 Cinema Rex fire and the 1990s chain murders of Iran.
The 2007 Zahedan bombings occurred from 14–17 February in Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Iran. The first bombing occurred at 6:30 a.m. on February 14 when a car filled with explosives stopped in front of a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards in Ahmadabad district. The car exploded, killing 18 and injuring 31 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Jundallah claimed responsibility.
Abdolmalek Rigi was an Iranian Baloch militant who was the leader of Jundallah, a Sunni Islamist militant group based in the Sistan and Balochistan Province in southeastern Iran. In 2010, he was captured and executed by the Iranian government.
After the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632, a group of Muslims, who would come to be known as the Sunnis, believed that Muhammad's successor as caliph of the Islamic community should be Abu Bakr, whereas a second group of Muslims, who would come to be known as the Shias, believed that his successor should have been Ali ibn Abi Talib. This dispute spread across various parts of the Muslim world, which eventually led to the Battle of Jamal and Battle of Siffin. Sectarianism based on this historic dispute intensified greatly after the Battle of Karbala, in which Husayn ibn Ali and some of his close partisans, including members and children of Muhammad's household, were killed by the ruling Umayyad Caliph Yazid I, and the outcry for revenge divided the early Islamic community, albeit disproportionately, into two groups, the Sunni and the Shia. This is known today as the Islamic schism.
The 2009 Pishin bombing occurred on October 18, 2009, when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a meeting in the southeastern Iranian town of Pishin in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The attack killed at least 43 people including several notable Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, and injured a further 150.
Abdolhamid Rigi was the elder brother of the detained leader of Jundallah, Abdolmalek Rigi. Like his brother, he was a member of the militant Sunni Islamist organization, which is widely recognized as a terrorist group, including by Iran and four other countries.
The 2010 Zahedan bombings were two suicide bombings on 15 July 2010 that targeted Shia worshippers in Iran, including members of the Revolutionary Guards. The bombings targeted those celebrating the birthday of a Muslim saint at the Jamia mosque in Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by Jundullah in revenge for the execution of their leader by the Iranian government. Amongst the reactions and national and supranational condemnations, Iran blamed the United States and Israel for facilitating the attack.
Events in the year 2010 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Jaish ul-Adl, or Jaish al-Adl, is a Sunni Islamic group and Baluchi separatist organization that operates mainly in the Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran, where there is a substantial Baloch population and a porous border with Pakistan.
The Sistan and Baluchestan insurgency is an ongoing low-intensity asymmetric conflict in Sistan and Baluchestan Province between Iran and several Baloch Sunni militant organizations designated as terrorist organizations by the Iranian government. It began in 2004 and is part of the wider Balochistan conflict.
Ansar Al-Furqan is a Sunni Baloch militant organization active in Sistan and Baluchestan insurgency and a designated terrorist organization by Iran. The group was established in December 2013 by a merger of Harakat al-Ansar and Hizbul-Furqan.
The Grand Makki Mosque of Zahedan is the largest Sunni Islamic mosque in Iran and is located in the center of Zahedan, the capital of the province Sistan and Baluchestan.
The arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi, the leader of Jundallah Terrorist group, took place on 23 February 2010 through an international operation by Iranian security forces. Rigi was extracted from a passenger jet on his way from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence had tracked Rigi's movements for five months before arresting him.
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