Bus bombed in southeast Iran, 18 dead

[TheWraith]

TEHRAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Eighteen people were killed on Wednesday when a bomb exploded next to a bus in the southeastern city of Zahedan, the official IRNA news agency reported.

IRNA said the bomb was hidden in a car by "armed rebels and attackers" and exploded as the bus, belonging to the ground forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, passed by. The agency initially said the bomb was in the bus.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BLA419280.htm

[cal04]

1. Bus bombed in southeast Iran, 18 dead

Eighteen people were killed on Wednesday when a bomb exploded next to a bus in the southeastern city of Zahedan, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The bomb was hidden in a car by "armed rebels and attackers" and exploded as the bus, belonging to the ground forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, passed by, the agency reported.

"In this act 18 Zahedan citizens have been martyred. Rebels and those who create insecurity martyred these people in a terrorist act by laying a trap close to a bus," Qassim Rezai, a military commander, was quoted as saying.

It was not clear if those killed were members of the Guards.

Zahedan is close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are often clashes between security forces and armed groups in the area involved in the drugs trade.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BLA420206.htm

[WillyT]

2. Site Now Has Banner, But No Link !!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Damn...

[Bonobo]

3. Someone is patting themselves on the back...

Either US black ops or we managed to get them sucked up in the bloody sectarian war. Either way, some people on our side must be mightily pleased.

However it is hard to see this as anything good.

May Allah or whatever name for god you want, have mercy on their souls. And may the same god protect us from the ripples of this... :scared:

[uppityperson]

4. MSNBC link and bit about location

Zahedan is close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are often clashes between security forces and armed groups in the area involved in the drugs trade.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17141988/


map shows it right at trisection Pakistan, Afghanistan. http://www.alertnet.org/map/index.htm?ct=2&style=2&ex_iso=AF,IR,PK&pcode=

[Comadreja]

7. Why are we just now hearing about it?

How many buses have been blown up in Iran because of internal conflict or narco-traffickers until now? This stinks of CIA or Mossad.

[uppityperson]

9. It just happened Wed which is now there.

[Comadreja]

10. I meant. . .

If this is an ongoing conflict of such intensity why are we just now finding out about it, when a bus is blown up?

[maddezmom]

14. we hear about it each time an event happens

couple of links:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2174483

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1547468

[uppityperson]

26. Thanks for those links m's mom.

Sounds like it is a regular happening there. bah to bombers

[IndianaGreen]

5. I smell the CIA is behind this shit

Bush wants his bloody war with Iran, and it will blow on his face just as Iraq did.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Whatever Bush may want...

...how does he plan to get it? We don't have any spare military forces left, and Iran is at least 2-3 times the size of Iraq.

[leftchick]

16. I agree

It was my first thought as well. More death and destruction for years to come. :(

[aquart]

17. Good lord. Once again, only the white guys can make a plan.

We are not the be all and end all over there. They have some pretty fancy hatreds going on that have NOTHING to do with us.

People with brown complexions are perfectly capable of blowing up people they don't like.

[ohio2007]

18. Who is supporting the drug traffickers?

Is it al Queda,Paki ISI, NATO, Olly North ?

WHen it's all said and done,it's a symboic attack against the Iranian central government.

[The Stranger]

27. In the current tidal wave of propaganda and his need for a Gulf of Tonkin, your post seems

extraordinarily naive.

[kiwilover]

25. Dick Cheneys' daughter

This is probably the work of Dick Cheneys' daughter. She works with dissident Iranian groups to cause problems inside of Iran.

[The Stranger]

28. . . . and it stinks to high heaven.

[EFerrari]

8. No matter what you do, BushCo Sewer, we won't give you this war.

We won't.

[maddezmom]

11. Iranian authorities arrest 4 in linkage to terrorist attack

From CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmher

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian authorities arrested four people in connection with a car bomb attack on an Iranian military bus in the southeastern Iranian border town of Zahedan Wednesday morning, state-run IRINN television reported.

The blast left behind a charred, blood-splattered frame along with at least 18 dead and others wounded, state-run Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Iran's semi-official FARS news agency reported four people in a car cut off the bus, which belonged to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, around 6:30 am (10 p.m. ET) and sped away on two motorcycles -- later detonating the explosives by remote control.

FARS reported two of the arrested may be affiliated with a small terrorist group that has a history of attacking Iranian border posts.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/14/wednesday/index.html

[Xithras]

13. Balochi's probably. Not a U.S. thing.

While it's easy to label this a CIA black op, the reality in Iran is a bit more complex. Iran has several different major ethnic groups within its borders, and several have been unhappy with Tehran for quite a while. The Balochi's in particular have been causing trouble for decades because they don't subscribe to the harsh interpretation of Islam that has been propagated around the country since the revolution.

The mullah's were smart for a long time and just left the Balochi's alone, but Ahmadinejad and some of the other conservative Iranian leaders have been pushing them a bit lately. I was just reading a story a few weeks ago about Tehran's new push to break up the old tribal structures there, and their attempts to disarm the Balochi's (some tribes there literally have their own private TANKS). It's really not surprise to hear that they're striking back.

Oh, and for the record, this technically isn't a terrorist attack. This was a deliberate retaliatory attack on a military force that has been trying to disarm and conquer some semi-autonomous peoples. The Balochi's didn't target civilians, they targeted Iranian soldiers. That makes this a military strike...technically an insurrection. If they'd blown up a bus full of innocent people the story would be a bit different, but these guys blew up a bus full of soldiers they perceived to be oppressing them.

[maddezmom]

15. Group claims behind southeast Iran bombing-agency

Group claims behind southeast Iran bombing-agency
14 Feb 2007 09:04:47 GMT
Source: Reuters

TEHRAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A group Iran has previously said was linked to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for bombing a bus owned by the Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday in the southeast of the country, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

"A few minutes ago, a group called Jundollah, under the leadership of Abdolmalek Rigi, the eastern rebels in the country, ... took responsibility for this terrorist act," Fars News Agency reported.
http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BLA432610.htm

[Xithras]

21. Yep, Jundollah is a Balochi group

I don't know about Al Queda connections, but Jundollah has been responsible for a number of kidnappings in the past. The are NOT Balochi separatists like I was thinking, but are an ultraconservative Muslim group that used to be close with the Taliban.

[Andrushka]

12. IRNA is saying

that they actually opened fire on the bus to slow it as it approached the car.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-22/0702146314110347.htm

[jollyreaper2112]

19. goddamned iranians!

I bet Iranians planted those bombs. Proof that we must invade!

[ohio2007]

20. we don't have a dog in that fight

that regional unrest issue has been going on since before the Iranian presidential motorcade became bullet ridden when the nutjob took his election victory tour on the road

[jollyreaper2112]

23. sarcasm

I don't know where the sarcasm tag is but that comment was meant as such.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

22. Sunnis claiming they did it

Iranian officials say a Sunni militant group has claimed responsibility for a deadly car-bomb attack Wednesday morning against Iran's Revolutionary Guard in the provincial capital of Zahedan.

Iran's Fars News Agency reports that the Sunni militant group Jundallah, "led by a well-known gang leader Abdul-Malik Rigi, released a statement and claimed responsibility for the terrorist operation." ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0214/p99s01-duts.html

[sarcasmo]

24. Why does the media only report the bad news? Sarcasm Alert.