Iran: Rebels, police clash near site of explosion

[Bucky]

One problem with gratuitous warmongering is that it can lead to regional destabilization. Iran has the most to fear from this. They are poised to grow into a serious economic power in the next few years, if they don't get distracted with some war or insurgency problem. Now al-Qaedista-like troublemakers in Iran's southeastern province (along the Pakistan border) are creating just such a distraction--killing troops, bombing schools. Who knows what's next? Nothing good. We stand to gain so much from entering negotiations with Iran. We share so many goals that compromising on our differences will seem like no brainers a generation from now.

Assuming there's a generation around a generation from now.

Rebels, police clash near site of explosion

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Police and insurgents clashed after a bombing late Friday in the southeastern community of Zahedan near the site where an explosion killed 11 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards this week, an Iranian news agency reported.

The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted the governor of Zahedan, Hasan Ali Nouri, as saying the blast was a "sound bomb explosion" - a device that creates a loud boom but usually does not cause casualties. Fars said the explosion was at a school.

"The insurgents began shooting at people after the explosion. Clashes are continuing between police and the armed insurgents. Police have cordoned off the area," Fars said.

Wednesday, a car bomb blew up a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards, killing 11, in Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, which sits on the border with Pakistan.

A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God's Brigade, which has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops, has claimed responsibility for the Wednesday bombing.

[TomClash]

1. Note

that Jundallah is not an FTO.

What a surprise.

[Bucky]

2. I had to look up what FTO stood for

I guessed the T part right, but was otherwise stumped (odd since I should've been able to figure out the O after that. But that'so your 20-20 hindsight working there. So I checked at Acronym Finder and found it could mean...

Field Training Officer (or Flight Training or Foreign Training)
Fresh Touring Origination
Flexible Time Off
Freedom to Operate
Final Takeoff
First Time Offender
Flight Training Officer
Fight the Octopus
Flight Test Objective
Figure The Odds or even...
Full-Time Occlusion


"Fight the Octopus?"

[TomClash]

4. Sorry . . .

Foreign Terrorist Organization as classified by the US State Department.

[leftchick]

3. perhaps the rebels are funded by the US

what a shock that would be. :eyes:

<snip>

Iran has accused Britain and the United States of supporting ethnic minority rebels operating in sensitive border areas in an attempt to destabilize the country.

"International organisations can send their representatives to investigate the documents showing involvement of America and Britain in the blasts," Fars quoted Soltanali Mir, a senior local official, as saying.

The claim comes at a time when the United States has accused Iranian groups of involvement in the war in Iraq.

Iranian officials accuse the United States of trying to a create crisis in the Islamic state through ethnic divisions.

"Explosive devices and arsenals used in Zahedan's Wednesday blast are American made," Mir said.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/2/18/worldupdates/2007-02-18T004227Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-288152-1&sec=worldupdates

[Bucky]

5. Not too likely in this case. This is on the Pak border & the rebels are al-Qaeda allies

I don't doubt we might find some allies among Kurdish Iranian rebels in Iran's west, but the Sunni nuts in the southeast would never touch our help. If the explosives these fundies used are US made, expect them to be leftovers from when we supported the mujahadeen in the 1980s.

Now there is a case for them getting indirect aid from us. The Sunni rebels in Iran are quite likely getting under-the-table and unofficial support from right wing Islamonuts in Saudi Arabia. The US doesn't get a lot of oil from Arabia (most of their oil gets sold to Europe & China) but US firms are doing a lot of business drilling and refining and building in Saudi. US dollars are flowing into that economy. Some may be getting diverted into rebels coffers. But that's not our policy; that's just our pollution.