Iran bombing kills six Revolutionary Guard leaders

The assault was carried out by a lone man who reportedly disguised himself in tribal dress and detonated an explosives belt at a gymnasium in the city of Pishin in Sistan-Baluchistan, a harsh land plagued by heroin smuggling and ethnic animosities. At least 28 people were wounded, and images of carnage were broadcast across a stunned nation.

State media said the Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which operates along the Iran-Pakistan border, claimed responsibility for the attack. The organization, part of a regional Sunni insurgency in Shi’ite-dominated Iran, has for years killed and kidnapped Iranian soldiers and police officers.

The bombing highlighted the increasing dangers near the intersection of Iran and its two troubled neighbors: Afghanistan, where US forces are battling a resurgent Taliban, and Pakistan, where the military this weekend launched a major offensive against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Jundallah has its own agenda in Iran, but its ideology and proximity to the other militant groups prompted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to caution Pakistan about cross-border violence.

“We have heard that certain officials in Pakistan cooperate with main agents of these terrorist attacks in eastern parts of the country. It is our right to ask [for extradition] of criminals,’’ Ahmadinejad said last night, shortly after Iranian news agencies reported that Tehran had summoned the Pakistani charge d’affairs to the Foreign Ministry.

The attack also came as the world has been focused on Iran’s controversial nuclear development program and on widespread protests over vote fraud in Ahmadinejad’s June reelection victory.

The issues have put tremendous pressure on the president and the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both of whom have moved to crush internal dissent while offering a mix of defiance and conciliation with world powers over the country’s nuclear ambitions.

The Baluchistan bomber, dressed in a loose white robe, struck during what was to be a reconciliation meeting between Shi’ite and Sunni tribesmen to calm sectarian tensions in southeast Iran. Iran state-owned Press TV reported that a simultaneous second bombing targeted another group of Revolutionary Guard officers traveling in a convoy near Pishin. There were no numbers on casualties, and the report could not be independently confirmed.

The region is a tangle of disenchanted clans and sects that allege they have been persecuted for generations by the nation’s Shi’ite majority. Jundallah and other groups pose no serious threat to the central Iranian government but they are capable of deadly ambushes against state and Shi’ite institutions, including a bombing at a mosque in May that left more than 20 people dead.

Iran’s postelection unrest may have also helped inspire yesterday’ bloodshed. Jundallah had vowed to take revenge against the Revolutionary Guard for cracking down on protesters marching against Ahmadinejad.

The peaceful opposition movement led by vanquished presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi never associated itself with Jundallah, but some analysts suggested the group plotted the attack to exploit the political turmoil at a time the Revolutionary Guard is tightening its hold on the country.

“It was a measure to show that IRGC is susceptible and penetrable,’’ said Mashaallah Shamsul Waezin, a political analyst. “And, secondly, the timing was important because IRGC is associated with the heavy crackdown against postelection protesters, so the terrorist attack can be an intensified echo of public opinion.’’

The official IRNA news agency reported that those killed included two of the Revolutionary Guard’s top commanders: General Noor Ali Shooshtari, commander of the Guard’s ground force, and Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, a chief commander for the region.