Tehran (AsiaNews) – Sunnis either linked to al-Qa'ida or to some of Iran’s rebellious (and US-backed) ethnic minorities are the most likely perpetrators of the car bomb attack against a bus carrying Pasdarans or revolutionary guards in the country’s south-eastern region. Iranian authorities reacted quickly yesterday urging the population not to fall prey to sectarian hatred against their “Sunni brothers”.
A Sunni separatist group calling itself Jundollah or “soldiers of Allah” in Persian has claimed responsibility for the bombing of a military bus in which at least 11 people were killed. Iran’s population is 90 per cent Shia.
Led by Abdolmalek Rigi, it has claimed responsibility for other attacks against Iran’s security forces.
Government sources in Zahedan, capital of Sistān and Balūchestān province, said that five people have been arrested.
According to Iranian intelligence sources, Jundollah is part of the al-Qa'ida network and is intent on fomenting sectarian strife, and might be protected by the Talibans.
Its leader, Rigi, is an ethnic Baluchi, and Baluchis, who are mostly Sunni, are largely concentrated in this province. Along with Ahvazi Arabs in Iran’s south-western region, they harbour anti-Persian and anti-Shiite sentiments.
Because desert covers large segments of Sistān and Balūchestān province, the area has been used by heroin smugglers.
Since the 1979 revolution, thousands of Iranian soldiers have died fighting these criminal elements.
However, analysts don’t believe smugglers were necessarily involved in the latest attack since those targeted were revolutionary guards.
According to US-based global intelligence research group Stratfor, this attack was likely carried out with support from Washington.
US support for local minorities is designed to destabilise Iran’s regime and stop its interference in Iraq and its nuclear ambitions.
Yesterday Shia clerics quickly appeared on television yesterday to say that Sunnis should not be blamed for the bloodshed in Zahedan. Other senior Iranian figures have warned against heightened Shia-Sunni tensions.
“People should face this crime with patience, awareness and realism just like other events and separate the issue of a few rebels from [amongst the] Sunnis [. . .] because our Sunni brothers are innocent of these crimes,” said Abbasali Soleimani, the regional representative of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.