18 Iranian troops killed in bus attack

AP/NY Times:

A car loaded with explosives blew up near a bus carrying members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran, killing 18 of them, the state-run news agency reported Wednesday.

The car stopped in front of the bus near Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan Province, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. It called the attack a terrorist operation and said the car's occupants fled on motorbikes seconds before the car exploded.

''This blind terrorist operation led to the martyrdom of 18 citizens of Zahedan,'' IRNA quoted a Guards commander, Qasem Rezaei, as saying.

State-run television said the bus had been taking them to work when the attack took place.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Rezaei blamed ''insurgents and elements of insecurity'' for the attack.

Hossein Ali Shahriyari, a deputy representing Zahedan, told an open session of the parliament Wednesday that ''insurgents and drug traffickers'' were behind the attack.

Soltan Ali Mir, a local Interior Ministry official, said five of those behind the explosion were arrested, IRNA reported. It did not say how many were involved.

...
This is an interesting development. There have been several terrorist incidents in Iran recently, but this is probably one of the largest attacks directly on troops. There have however been two plane crashes which killed a larger number of Revolutionary Guard troops. Gateway Pundit has more on the attack. Apparently Iran blames many of these attacks on drug smugglers. I wonder if they are part of the Mexican gangs?

The Belmont Club and Bill Roggio have commentary on who might be responsible for the attack. My speculation would run toward Iranian Arabs, some of whom have been attacking Iranian's for some time now. Some tribes in Iran are in fairly open rebellion. It could also be some of those associated with the Iranian terror group that Saddam had sponsored in the past.

Update: The Independent says a Sunni group affiliated with al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the bus bombing. It also lowers the death toll to 11.

Comments

  1. Well well, what goes around comes around...

    absurd thought -
    God of the Universe
    don't say payback IS a beach
    .

    ReplyDelete

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