Iran reports arrests in deadly blast
TEHRAN - Iranian security forces have arrested suspects in a suicide bombing that killed at least 42 people, including senior Revolutionary Guard commanders, Iran’s police chief said yesterday.
General Esmaeil Ahmadi Moghadam said members of the Sunni rebel group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, that carried out the deadly bombing Sunday entered Iran from neighboring Pakistan. The group has waged a low-level insurgency in Iran’s southeast in recent years, claiming to fight on behalf of the Baluchi ethnic minority, which it says is persecuted by Iran’s government.
“Fortunately, a number of elements linked to this terrorist group were arrested by security forces,’’ Moghadam was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. He did not say how many people were arrested.
Sunday’s attack killed 15 members of the powerful Revolutionary Guard, including five senior commanders, and at least 27 other people in the town of Pishin, near Iran’s border with Pakistan. The attacker targeted a meeting of Guard chiefs and local tribal leaders that was aimed at promoting unity between Iran’s majority Shi’ites and minority Sunnis.
In a statement posted yesterday on Jundallah’s website, the group said those whom Iran had arrested were innocent and the only person involved in the attack was the bomber.
