Iran blames US for attack

DUBAI: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States and its regional allies yesterday for a suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed 27 members of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards and wounded 13 others, Iranian state TV reported.

The force said a suicide bomber driving a vehicle laden with explosives had attacked a bus transporting members of the Guards in the province of SistanBaluchestan, which straddles the border with Pakistan, on Wednesday (local time).

A militant Sunni Muslim group, Jaish al Adl, which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack, Iranian media reported.

‘‘The crime will remain as a ‘dirty stain’ in the black record of the main supporters of terrorism in the White House, Tel Aviv and their regional agents,’’ Rouhani said.

Apart from Israel, Rouhani did not name the regional states he believed were to blame.

Mainly Shi’ite Muslim Iran does not recognise Israel, which is a key US ally in the region and sees Teheran as posing a threat to its existence.

In the past, Iran has accused its main regional rival Saudi Arabia of backing Sunni militia groups who have carried out bloody attacks against Iranian security forces, which Riyadh has denied.

Repeating warnings made by senior commanders of the Guards, Rouhani said Iran was determined to bring justice to those responsible for one of the worst assaults against the Revolutionary Guards in years. — Reuters