27 killed, 270 hurt in Iran blasts (Second Lead)

TEHRAN - At least 27 people were killed and about 270 others injured when two bombs went off outside a mosque in southeastern Iran, media reports said Friday.

The attack took place outside the Grand Mosque of Zahedan city in Sistan-Bolouchestan province Thursday. Eleven injured are in critical condition, IRNA news agency reported quoting Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi Friday.

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

Dastjerdi said a specialised medical team has been dispatched to the city to help the injured.

The first blast occurred at 9.20 p.m., followed by a second blast within minutes. The blasts damaged nearby shops.

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

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.

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

Governor General of the province, Ali-Mohammad Azad, told IRNA Friday that foreign intelligence services are behind the attack.

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