20 dead, 100 hurt in twin blasts in Iran

TEHRAN - At least 20 were killed and over 100 injured in two explosions that tore through a mosque in Iran’s southeastern city of Zahedan Thursday, media reports said Friday.

“Two explosions in the front of Zahedan’s Grand Mosque have left more than 20 dead and over 100 injured,” Fariborz Rashedi, the head of Sistan-Baluchestan’s emergency unit told IRNA.

The first of the twin explosions took place at 9.20 p.m. in front of the provincial capital city’s Grand Mosque, followed by the second blast within minutes.

Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi described the incident as a “terrorist act”, Fars news agency reported.

Among those killed in the blast were members of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the country’s most powerful military force.

Xinhua reported that the Sunni group Jundallah said in an email to Al Arabiyeh television that it had carried out the attacks in retaliation for Iran’s execution in June of the group’s leader, Abdolmalek Rigi.

Iran hanged Rigi in Tehran’s Evin prison June 20 after he was convicted of various crimes including armed robbery, bombing operations in public places, armed attacks on the army, police and civilians, assassination attempts, disrupting regional stability, kidnapping and murder.

Sistan-Baluchistan province is home to the Jundallah insurgency. The group has claimed responsibility for explosions that have killed dozens in recent years, including several senior commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard last year.