Iran accuses Pakistan of links to suicide bombers

[pampango]

Source: Monsters and Critics

Iran on Thursday accused Pakistani officials of being connected with this week's suicide bomb attack in the south-east of the country, state media reported. According to the latest information from the provincial governor's office, at least 34 people were killed and dozens injured Wednesday in a suicide bombing at a mosque in the city in Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

'Some local Pakistani officials are linked to the terrorist act in Chabahar,' Ali Abdollahi, the deputy minister and head of security at the Interior Ministry, told official news agency IRNA. The officials concerned 'have granted permission for the terrorists to cross the border into Iran,' he was quoted as saying. The coastal city of Chabahar is approximately 100 kilometres from the Pakistani border. 'The base of the terrorists is on the other side of the Pakistani border and despite several warnings by Iran, the Pakistani side has done nothing to arrest these terrorists,' Abdollahi said.

US President Barack Obama has condemned the suicide attack as 'a disgraceful and cowardly act,' while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned it 'in the strongest possible terms.'

Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi was arrested by Iran earlier this year and hanged in June in the Evin prison in Tehran. Since then the group, which is said to be also linked to the terrorist network al-Qaeda, has vowed to take revenge and is thought to have been behind several deadly bombings in the province.

Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1606110.php/Iran-accuses-Pakistan-of-links-to-suicide-bombers

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"'The base of the terrorists is on the other side of the Pakistani border...". That sounds familiar.

[Democracyinkind]

1. The US has been covertly encouraging, financing and otherwise helping the "Jundollah" terrorists...

This even predates Bushco, as far as I know. You know, fightin' the devil with Belzebub.

[Robb]

2. Iran has accused *everyone* of funding Jundallah.

In its defense, I can see an argument for nearly every country to have done so at the different times they were accused of it.

Evidence of this, as an aside, would be the sort of thing an outfit like Wikileaks could change the world by releasing.

[Democracyinkind]

3. You have a point

I have a tendency to equate ISI with CIA. As far as I remember the ISI angle has been confirmed by non-Iranian sources. But you're right the only american source was Robert Baer and he said that the relationship was "informal" and that Bush decided against using them actively. That is if you believe him; I hear some people don't. Anyways, you were right to correct my post: It is not apparent what our current involvement with them is and the past is even murkier. But the fact that the Jundullah militia is getting help from outside is pretty obvious and I think also documented to some extent. While I am extremely critical of the regime in Iran and aware that they produce their share of propaganda, I think acknowledging that there is a terrorist campaign going on against Iran since 30 years that is dependent on active foreign help could go a long way to explain the paranoid mindset that seems to prevail in certain circles in Iran.