Suicide bomb kills Iranian elite Guards
Updated on 18 October 2009
Six senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards and 25 others are killed in a suicide bombing, one of the boldest attacks on Iran's most powerful military institution.
News agencies reported that among those killed were the deputy head of the Guards' ground forces, General Nourali Shoushtari, and the Guards' commander in Sistan-Baluchestan province, General Mohammadzadeh. Shoushtari was also a senior official of the Guard's elite Qods force, media said.
The attack, in the country's turbulent southeast, comes as Iranian officials are due to meet their Western counterparts in a sensitive second round of negotiations in Vienna on Monday intended to resolve a standoff with the West about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
State media said a local rebel group called Jundollah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for the attack, the worst on the elite Revolutionary Guards in recent years, which injured another 28 people at a meeting of tribal chiefs.
But the Guards themselves accused "foreign elements" linked to the United States of involvement. Tehran accuses the United States of backing Jundollah to create instability in the country, a charge that Washington denies. State television also pointed the finger at Britain, another traditional foe of Iran.
The Revolutionary Guards is an elite force seen as fiercely loyal to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Its power and resources have increased in recent years. It handles security in sensitive border areas.
