DATE=7/16/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAN/BOMB REACT (L-O)
NUMBER=2-264463
BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A spokesman for the Iranian guerrilla group,
Mujahadeen Khalq, has claimed responsibility for
mortar attacks on the Intelligence Ministry in Tehran.
Correspondent Laurie Kassman has more from our Middle
East Bureau.
TEXT: Iran's official news agency has barely
mentioned the mortar attack. A short report says only
that residents in the northern part of the capital
heard explosions Saturday. Foreign news reports from
Tehran say electricity was briefly cut in the area.
The Mujahadeen Khalq says it fired at least 20-mortar
rounds at the Intelligence Ministry to represent 20-
years of armed resistance. The group, which is based
in Iraq, has launched sporadic attacks in an effort to
oust the Islamic leadership in Tehran.
A spokesman says the attack Saturday was also carried
out to protest the police crackdown on a pro-democracy
rally that was held last week to commemorate the first
anniversary of the crackdown on a pro-democracy
demonstration by Tehran University students.
That demonstration last year ended in violent clashes
when police raided campus dormitories. At least one-
student was killed and hundreds more injured in two-
days of rioting. It was the worst street violence
since the Islamic Revolution toppled Shah Reza Pahlevi
in 1979.
Reformists were shocked last week when a court
acquitted Tehran's former police chief and 17
policemen of assault charges in last year's attack on
the student demonstrators. (SIGNED)
NEB/LMK/ALW/RAE
16-Jul-2000 10:23 AM EDT (16-Jul-2000 1423 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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