Iran Says 'Terror Attack' Kills 20 in Southeast
VOA News
15 July 2010
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency says suicide bombers have killed more than 20 people and wounded more than 100 others outside a Shi'ite mosque in the southeastern part of the country.
Witnesses said two explosions shook the main mosque in the city of Zahedan late Thursday.
Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi told the semiofficial Fars news agency the incident was a terrorist act.
Zahedan, the capital of Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province, bordering Pakistan, is home to a large Sunni Baluch minority, and Shi'ites living there have the target of numerous attacks.
The Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah, based in the province, said it carried out a similar mosque attack two months ago that killed 25 people in Zahedan.
Last month Iran executed the group's leader, Abdolmalek Rigi, after convicting him of terrorism.
Jundallah claimed responsibility for a bomb attack last October that killed 57 people, including several members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
Iran says Jundallah is based in Pakistan, and it has accused the United States of funding the militants in an effort to destabilize the Iranian government. The United States, Britain and Pakistan all have denied giving any support to Jundallah.
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