Teheran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Eighteen people were killed this morning in southeast Iran when a bomb exploded near a bus owned by the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran). Security forces and armed groups often clash in this area which is on the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The news was reported by Iran’s official news agency, IRNA. Semi-official sources of information claimed the death toll was lower and a government official of Zahedan city, where the attack took place, said it was not yet known how many victims there were.
IRNA said the bomb was hidden in a car and exploded as the bus, which was ferrying employees to a base of the Guards, passed by. It was not clear if those killed were members of the Iranian Pasdaran. "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," said Qassim Rezai, a military commander. A spokesman in the Zahedan governor's office confirmed the incident but said he was still waiting for an exact death toll. "Two people have been arrested," he said, without giving further details.
The border area is considered to be a sort of far west, where security forces and gangs of drug traffickers clash. Local sources of AsiaNews said that usually the army “tends to close an eye and the government is muted” when such episodes take place.