TEHRAN — In a brazen attack on Iran's military elite, a suicide bomber on Sunday killed six Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and 26 others at a gathering of tribal leaders in a southeastern province near the Pakistani border known for drug running and religious extremism, according to the official Iranian news agency.
The assault was carried out by a lone man who reportedly disguised himself in tribal dress and detonated an explosives belt at a gymnasium in the city of Pishin in Sistan-Baluchistan, a harsh land plagued by heroin smuggling and ethnic animosities. At least 28 people were wounded, and images of carnage were broadcast across a stunned nation.
State media said the Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which operates along the Iranian-Pakistani border, claimed responsibility for the attack. The organization, part of a regional Sunni insurgency in Shiite-dominated Iran, has for years killed and kidnapped Iranian soldiers and police officers.
The bombing highlighted the increasing dangers near the intersection of Iran and its two troubled neighbors: Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are battling a resurgent Taliban, and Pakistan, where the military this weekend launched a major offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters. Jundallah has its own agenda in Iran, but its ideology and proximity to the other militant groups prompted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to caution Pakistan about cross-border violence.
"We have heard that certain officials in Pakistan cooperate with main agents of these terrorist attacks in eastern parts of the country. It is our right to ask (for extradition) of criminals," Ahmadinejad said.
The attack occurred as the world is focused on Iran's controversial nuclear development program and on widespread protests over vote fraud in Ahmadinejad's June re-election victory. The issues have put tremendous pressure on the president and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both of whom have moved to crush internal dissent while offering a mix of defiance and conciliation with world powers over the country's nuclear ambitions.
The Baluchistan bomber struck during what was to be a reconciliation meeting between Shiite and Sunni tribesmen to calm sectarian tensions. Iran state-owned Press TV reported that a simultaneous bombing targeted another group of Revolutionary Guard officers traveling in a convoy near Pishin. There were no numbers on casualties, and the report could not be independently confirmed.
The region is a tangle of disenchanted clans and sects that claim to have been persecuted for generations by the nation's Shiite majority. Jundallah and other groups pose no serious threat to the central Iranian government, but they are capable of deadly ambushes against state and Shiite institutions, including a bombing at a mosque in May that killed more than 20 people.
Iran's post-election unrest may have helped inspire yesterday's bloodshed. Jundallah had vowed to take revenge against the Revolutionary Guard for cracking down on protesters marching against Ahmadinejad. The peaceful opposition movement led by vanquished presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi never associated itself with Jundallah, but some analysts suggested the group plotted the attack to exploit the political turmoil at a time the Revolutionary Guard is tightening its hold on the country.
The Revolutionary Guard and hard-line politicians blamed "global arrogance" for the bombing and said the United States was funding and arming Jundallah and other militant groups to overthrow the Ahmadinejad government.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied American involvement, saying Washington condemns "this act of terrorism and mourns the loss of innocent lives. Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false."
