[R-G] Iran official blames U.S. in deadly mosque bombing

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE54R5O320090529

Iran official blames U.S. in deadly mosque bombing
Fri May 29, 2009 2:58pm EDT

By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian official accused the United States on  
Friday of involvement in a mosque bombing that killed more than 20  
people in volatile southeastern Iran, two weeks before a presidential  
election.

Washington denied the allegation.

Jalal Sayyah, of the governor's office in Sistan-Baluchestan province,  
said three people had been arrested in connection with the blast on  
Thursday in a crowded Shi'ite mosque in the city of Zahedan, in a  
region where many of Iran's minority Sunnis live.

"The terrorists, who were equipped by America in one of our  
neighboring countries, carried out this criminal act in their efforts  
to create religious conflict and fear and to influence the  
presidential election," Sayyah told state radio.

A Sunni opposition group named Jundollah (God's Soldiers), which  
mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran says is part of the Islamist al Qaeda  
network and backed by the United States, said it was behind the  
bombing, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said.

The Dubai-based station said a man called it saying it was a suicide  
attack aimed at Basij forces, a religious militia, meeting in the  
mosque to coordinate election strategy.

It was not possible to verify the claim of involvement of Jundollah,  
which says it fights for the rights of Iran's Sunnis.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also suggested Iran's foreign  
enemies were involved in the blast, saying "no one can doubt that the  
hands of...some interfering powers and their spying services are  
bloodied by the blood of the innocent."

The U.S. State Department denied involvement in the bombing.

"We condemn this terrorist attack in the strongest possible terms,"  
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "We do not sponsor any form  
of terrorism in Iran.

Sayyah said two children were among the dead. The official IRNA news  
agency put the death toll at 25 and named most of the victims, all  
males. Other media gave somewhat lower figures.

The person who detonated the device was standing among men praying in  
Ali Ebne-Abitaleb mosque and was also killed, provincial judiciary  
official Ebrahim Hamidi said.

Iranian media said a big part of the mosque was destroyed by the  
blast. Footage showed a blood-stained floor inside.

It was one of the deadliest such bombing incidents in Iran since its  
1980-88 war with Iraq. A blast in a mosque in the southern city of  
Shiraz killed 14 people in April last year but the country has been  
relatively peaceful in a turbulent region.

"It has been confirmed that those behind the terrorist act in Zahedan  
were hired by America and the arrogance's other hands," Sayyah told  
the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Iranian leaders, who often accuse the United States and its allies of  
seeking to destabilize it, refer to Washington as the "Great Satan,"  
guilty of "global arrogance."

Iran has also previously accused its arch-foe of supporting Sunni  
rebels operating on its border with Pakistan.

U.S. INVOLVEMENT DOUBTED

Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic  
Baluchis, is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces and  
heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits.

Defense analyst Paul Beaver said it was "highly unlikely" that the  
U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who is seeking to  
engage Tehran diplomatically after three decades of mutual mistrust,  
would support Sunni insurgents in Iran.

He said history had shown that backing guerrilla groups to effect  
regime change was "ineffectual and wrong, and the present U.S.  
administration does not want to be tarnished in that way."

In an incident on Friday in the same city, three people were wounded  
when gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the local campaign  
headquarters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Zahedan, IRNA said.

Police later arrested the attackers, it said. Two of the wounded  
worked in the election office. A child was also hurt.

In April, Iran's intelligence minister said it had arrested a group of  
people linked to Israel who were planning bombings before the June 12  
election, in which the conservative incumbent, Ahmadinejad, is seeking  
a second four-year term.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)