Reuters-Sunni Suicide Bombers Attack Mosque In Iran; 39 Dead

photo credit: Reuters

(Story reported by Ramin Mostafavi and Hossein Jaseb for Reuters)

(Reuters) - Two suicide bomb attacks killed 39 people outside a mosque during a Shi'ite religious ceremony in southeastern Iran on Wednesday, a strike Jundollah rebels said was retaliation for the execution of their leader in June.
 
In a statement on its website, the Sunni Muslim group said it was responsible for the bombings outside the Imam Hussein Mosque in Chabahar, which also wounded more than 100 people.

"At least 39 people were martyred after two suicide bombings targeted Shi'ite mourners in front of a mosque in the town of Chabahar," Fariborz Ayati Firouzabadi, head of the Coroner's office in the province.

The bombings killed many children and women, who attended a Shi'ite religious ceremony to commemorate the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein, state television reported, adding that the death toll was expected to increase.

The poor province of Sistan-Baluchistan, near Iran's border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been the scene of unrest with the mainly Sunni population claiming discrimination by the Shi'ite authorities.

Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar told state television that the attackers had links to neighbouring Pakistan and that an investigation was underway.

(Click here to read the full story on the Reuters website.)