Bomb kills several in southern Iran ...... WTF?

[babsbunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_explosion

7 minutes ago



TEHRAN, Iran - A bomb explosion in a mosque in southern Iran Saturday killed several of people, state television reported.


An initial television report said scores had been killed in the bombing in the city of Shiraz, about 559 miles south of the capital Tehran. But it later revised its death toll to several and said an unspecified number of people were also injured.

The semi-official Fars news agency said eight people were killed and more than 66 injured. The official IRNA news agency said several people were injured but added that no official reports were yet available on deaths. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancies in the reports.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

[slowry]

1. correct link, I think:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080412/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_explosion

[babsbunny]

3. Thanks!

[rcsl1998]

2. Instigation Anyone?

[Bucky]

4. There is some terrorism in southern Iran. Shiraz has both Christian & Jewish citizens

Wiki says there's about 6000 Jews there and that there's both an Anglican and an Armenian church there. It's referred to as a "city of poets, gardens, wine, nightingales and flowers". What's not for a terrorist to love about such a town?

[mainer]

6. 6000 Jews plus Anglicans and Armenians?

Iran seems quite a bit more tolerant than our friends the Saudis.

[MADem]

10. The Jewish and Armenian communities have shrunk MASSIVELY since the Shah left.

All "tolerance" is relative.

And I rather think the persecuted Zoroastrians had an easier time of things before the Grand Ayatullah Khomeini arrived on the scene.

Religious tolerance in Iran means enthusiasm for the shi'a majority, and some "putting up with" major minority communities. They "put up with" less and less outward display as years pass.

The differences between Iran and Saudi Arabia are many. It's really like comparing apples and oranges.

First, Iran isn't ARAB. It's a southwest ASIAN nation.

Second, Iran isn't ethnically or religiously homogenous. Saudi Arabia is all some-form-of-Sunni semites; Iranians are multi-ethnic Indo-Europeans, Turkmenis, Kurds, Baluchis, Afghans, etc. with a few ethnic Arabs on their southern flank. Iran has always had several vigorous minority religions over the years, and have welcomed "people of the Book" in their society.

They've been less tolerant since 79. And by 'they' I mean the government, not the people.

[Bucky]

11. Iran is more modernized (& less feudal) than Arabia, but...

Only 6000 jews and only two Christian churches in Iran's 5th largest city is not exactly my definition of diversity.

[hack89]

12. Life is very hard for Jews in Iran

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iranjews.html

[Eric J in MN]

5. "US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/25/wiran25.xml

By William Lowther in Washington DC and Colin Freeman, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:30am GMT 25/02/2007

America is secretly funding militant ethnic separatist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the Islamic regime to give up its nuclear programme.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime is accused of repressing minority rights and culture

In a move that reflects Washington's growing concern with the failure of diplomatic initiatives, CIA officials are understood to be helping opposition militias among the numerous ethnic minority groups clustered in Iran's border regions.

The operations are controversial because they involve dealing with movements that resort to terrorist methods in pursuit of their grievances against the Iranian regime.

I don't know who is responsible for the latest bombing in Iran, and I don't know if they were funded by the US government, but ideally it wouldn't even be a question.

[gateley]

7. My initial reaction was,

if we dropped it, would we target a Mosque?

But seeing this article, NOW I get it.

It's discouraging that I immediately assume - and will probably be proved correct -- that Bushco has it's ugly hand in this.

Setting the stage....

[Echo In Light]

13. Thanks for the link

[gateley]

8. Oops = forgot to recommend. nt

[MADem]

9. CNN said it was in Shiraz, and there were many fatalities.

Beautiful city. Very nice university there.

[nichomachus]

14. Does anyone know where John McCain was? n/t

[Earth_First]

15. "John McCain was seen late into the night Saturday pouring over Middle Eastern maps

studying for the Sunday morning talk circuit."

[Strelnikov_]

16. MEK?

The Islamist Socialist terror organization under US protection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Mujahedin_of_Iran

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Iran Dismisses Sabotage in Mosque Blast

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian officials on Sunday ruled out an attack as the cause of an explosion that killed 11 people inside a mosque in the southern city of Shiraz.

The explosion ripped through the mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers late Saturday as a cleric delivered his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith, the semiofficial Fars news agency said.
...
The police chief of the southern Fars Province, Gen. Ali Moayyedi, said he "rejects" the possibility of an intentional bombing and "any sort of insurgency" in the blast.

Moayyedi, in comments carried by state IRNA news agency, said the initial investigation found remnants of ammunition from a military exhibition that was held recently at the mosque.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5J24QdqRtBHmbb4jztPXyvaAHdQD900TO4O0

Bizarre explanation. :shrug:

[bushmeister0]

18. Yes, that's what I thought, too.

A "military exhibition that was held recently at the mosque," my ass!

They clearly aren't prepared to admit they have their own terrorist problem, which would eventually drag us into the whole thing, by and by. If they were to say it was an intentional attack, what's going on in Iraq would have to come into the picture. Some folks might begin to think we were giving them a little payback for what we're accusing them of doing in Baghdad or Basra, for instance. If this sort of thing keeps happening, some folks might even start calling for the big mouths in Teharan to do something about it.

These types of things can be very destabilizing for a regime such as Iran's, maybe the Mossad (I'm just throwing that out there) is thinking what's good forthe goose is good for the gander . . . Very messy.