2010 Zahedan bombings

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2010 Zahedan bombings
Locator map Iran Sistan and Baluchestan Province.png
Sistan and Baluchistan Province highlighted within Iran
Location Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Iran
Date15 July 2010 (UTC+4½)
TargetShia worshippers
Attack type
Suicide bombings
Deaths27+ [1] [2]
Injured270+ [2] [3]
Perpetrators Jundullah

The 2010 Zahedan bombings were two suicide bombings on 15 July 2010 that targeted Shia worshippers in Iran, including members of the Revolutionary Guards. [4] 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.

Contents

Background

In the months before the attack, Iran captured and executed the leader of Jundullah Abdolmalek Rigi and his brother Abdolhamid Rigi. In retaliation, Jundullah vowed revenge for his execution. [3]

This attack was also similar to another attack in the same city the previous year, which also targeted a mosque and killed several high-ranking Revolutionary Guards. The group have carried out many more attacks against the Guards in the province.

Attacks

The attacks occurred as worshippers were celebrating the birthday of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.

Iran's deputy interior minister said "a suicide operation was carried out in the Jamia mosque, which left several martyrs [dead] and several wounded. The first explosion took place behind a checkpoint and a number of Revolutionary Guard members were killed and injured because of it." Hossein Ali Shahriari, a Zahedan member of parliament, said that two suicide attacks occurred one after another, with the first one carried out by a bomber dressed as a woman. "The attacker, dressed in women's clothing, was trying to get in the mosque, but was prevented. When people came to rescue those hit in that blast, another bomber blew himself up. Three to four have been killed at least in the first attack." [1]

In addition to the 27 killed, eleven people were in critical condition. The Minister of Health, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, said a specialized medical team has been dispatched to the city to rush aid to the victims. [2]

Investigations

Two days after the attack, Iranian police arrested 40 people for "creating disturbances." Deputy police chief, General Ahmad Reza Radan, said the police had arrested people who "intended to create insecurity in the city of Zahedan after the bombing." [5]

Responsibility

In an email to Al-Arabiya, Jundallah said the attacks were a response to the execution of its leaders and also threatened more such attacks. [1]

Reactions

Domestic reactions

"In our region... the blind and savage terrorism is born out of the evil policies of the United States, Britain and their state and non-state mercenaries. All Muslims are required to combat and confront this evil and sinister offspring which is the epitome of corruption on earth and of waging war against God. [This] bloody incident [was carried out by] devious, bigoted Wahabis with the support and plotting of foreign spy organizations. The Shiite and Sunni thinkers in all Islamic and Arab countries should define the wicked intentions of the enemies which is to instigate sectarian terrorism for all and prevent them (Muslim nations) from the great danger of religious unrest. [Iran was the] target of the spy services of the US and Zionist regimes, and Britain [who wanted to] push it into religious unrest and into a Shiite-Sunni conflict. But the Islamic republic will not allow the agents of global arrogance to incite division among Muslim brothers." [6]

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad upped the ante a few days later saying "No grouping other than US-backed terrorist groups which are devoid of human feelings can commit such acts." Adding that though "We are friends with the Pakistani nation, … but the Pakistani government should be held accountable. The puppeteers pulling the strings in this show will get nothing. Such aggressive policies will only fuel public hatred." He also called on the Foreign Ministry to follow up on the attack with the Pakistani government; and instructed his office to lodge a complaint within "international circles" based on "existing documents" and NATO and Israel's cooperation with the terrorists.[ citation needed ] Ali Mohammad Azad, the governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, blamed "the intelligence services of arrogant powers" [7] (often a euphemism for the West). The Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, said "The terrorist act by the Zionists had a number of objectives, including creating division between Shias and Sunnis." The deputy interior minister, Ali Abdollahi, said "This blind terrorist act was carried out by the mercenaries of the world['s] arrogance (the Western powers). The agents of this crime were trained and equipped beyond our borders and then came into Iran." [5] The deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards, General Hossein Salami, said the victims "were martyred by the hands of mercenaries of the US and UK." [7] Yadollah Javani, the head of IRGC's political bureau, said the attack points to the involvement of terrorist groups under the auspices of the United States, Israel and some other Western countries seeking to create sectarian division.[ citation needed ] Massoud Jazayeri, the deputy head and a senior IRGC commander said "Jundollah has been supported by America for its terrorist acts in the past ... America will have to await the fallout of such criminal and savage measures." [8] Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also took issue with the West saying "Western countries had better stop supporting terrorists instead of giving them shelter on their soil and strengthening them."[ citation needed ]

An Iranian Sunni cleric, Molavi Nazir Ahmad Salami, condemned the attack and urged vigilance against creating a rift between Shias and Sunnis. He said

The terrorist bombings were carried out in front of Zahedan's Grand Mosque with the aim of undermining Shia-Sunni unity and solidarity among the brave border-guarding people of the region and thus people should be on alert. This bestial crime left yet another stain of disgrace on the dark record of the global arrogance.[ citation needed ]

Hossein-Ali Shahriari, the Zahedan representative to the Majlis, tendered his resignation telling the Speaker Ali Larijani that he was resigning due to the inability of authorities to maintain security in his constituency.[ citation needed ] Two more representatives from the province, Abbas-Ali Noura and Peyman Forouzesh also resign for the same reason. [9]

On 17 July, tens of thousands of mourners amassed in Zahedan for the burial of the dead. [10]

International organizations
Other states

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jundallah (Iran)</span> Sunni Baloch militant organization operating in Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran

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".

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdolmalek Rigi</span> Iranian terrorist

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.

In the Lal Masjid bombing of 6 July 2008 at 7:50 pm local time, a 30-year-old suicide bomber blew himself up near the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, killing 18 policemen and 1 civilian. The bombing occurred on the first anniversary of the siege of Lal Masjid and was likely a revenge attack. The attack occurred even amid tight security in Islamabad, where thousands of Islamic students in Pakistan came to mark the day when Pakistani troops stormed Lal Masjid. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who visited the blast site, said about 12,000 students attended the rally and the attack was directed at police.

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Press TV-Iran Today-July 2010 Zahedan Bombings-07-30-2010(Part1) on YouTube