Teheran blames foreigners for attack
TEHERAN — Iranian officials have blamed foreigners for Thursday’s deadly attack on security forces in Iran’s southeastern city of Chabahar.
“Foreign-backed terrorists kill and wound innocents in Chabahar,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said in a posting on social media on Thursday.
“We’ve made clear in the past that such crimes won’t go unpunished,” Zarif said, adding that “in 2010, our security services intercepted and captured extremists en route from the United Arab Emirates.
“Mark my words: Iran will bring terrorists and their masters to justice,” Zarif said.
Besides, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps accused foreign intelligence services of being behind Thursday’s attack.
“Terrorist groups are mainly linked to foreign intelligence services,” said IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif.
He was quoted as saying on the IRGC’s official website that the terrorist groups “have always sought to create insecurity in our borders”.
Iran will respond determinedly to these terrorist attacks, he said, adding that both the terrorists and their supporters will be punished.
According to the latest reports, at least three people, including the attacker, were killed and 48 others were injured in the attack in Chabahar on Thursday. Two of the victims were security personnel at the police headquarters.
The terrorists targeted the police headquarters in Chabahar with a car packed with explosives, Rahmdel Bameri, governor of Chabahar, told Iran’s IRNA news agency.
The car was trying to enter the police station, but “police stopped the explosive-laden car and started firing at the driver”, said Bameri, adding that “the attacker then set off the explosion near the police headquarters in Chabahar”.
Videos posted on social media showed thick smoke rising from the area.
No one has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan Province, bordering Pakistan, has been the scene of violence and deadly clashes between the Iranian security forces and the militant groups, including drug bandits and separatists, in recent years.
On Oct 16, a total of 14 Iranian troops were kidnapped by an armed group at the nation’s southeastern Mirjaveh border crossing and taken to Pakistan. Five of the abducted guards were freed and returned to Iran on Nov 22.