Iran arrests eight suspects in terrorist attack on IRGC forces
Iran has detained eight suspects in connection with a recent terrorist attack that killed 27 Iranian security forces in the country’s southeast, a provincial official announced.
The head of the Justice Department of Sistan-baluchestan Province, Ebrahim Hamidi, said that two of the suspects were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday.
He added that one of the suspects arrested is a woman who was the owner of the vehicle used in the terrorist attack on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) personnel, according to Tasnim News Agency.
A bus carrying IRGC personnel was traveling between the cities of Zahedan and Khash, in Sistanbaluchestan Province on Feb. 13, when it was targeted by a suicide car bomb attack.
Twenty-seven IRGC members were killed and 13 others injured in the attack, claimed by the socalled Jaish ul-adl terrorist group based in Pakistan.
In a rapid operation on Sunday night, the IRGC forces detected and raided several dwellings in the cities of Saravan and Khash, where a number of elements behind the recent terrorist attack were hiding, and arrested them.
Three terrorists were captured in the operation, while 150 kilograms of explosives as well as 600 kilograms of explosive materials in production, a number of weapons and some ammunition were confiscated.
According to the IRGC, the terrorists arrested in the operation were the same ones who had prepared the explosive-laden vehicle used in the February 13 attack and had provided support for the suicide bomber.
IRGC said on Tuesday the man who carried out the suicide bombing was a Pakistani citizen.
Iran has repeatedly blamed Pakistan for sheltering terrorists connected with attacks in the border area.
IRGC’S Lieutenant Commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami said on Friday the country will definitely avenge the recent terrorist attack, but the revenge will not be limited to “a bunch of terrorists,” IRNA reported.
“We cannot disclose the way in which we will respond to the terrorists, but no act will go unanswered,” he said.
“The scale of Iran’s revenge is not limited to clashes with four terrorists. Rather, we will track the terrorists and find whom they are linked to,” the top general said.
“Our responses are strong, and those who receive it will get familiar with them,” General Salami warned.
The top commander also slammed the “hostile” behavior of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which Iran says have masterminded the Zahedan attack, but at the same time noted that such terror attacks are too trivial to undermine Iran’s deterrence power.
“We seek to defeat big powers, and such incidents are too small for us.”