40 arrested for Iran suicide bombings

BERLIN - Police have arrested 40 suspects over two bombings at a mosque in south-east Iran which killed 27 people and injured over 160, Fars news agency reported Saturday.

Two bombings took place late Thursday at the grand mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Beluchistan province. The bombs went off within minutes of each other at the mosque’s gate.

Deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said that the 40 arrested planned to create chaos and insecurity in the city of Zahedan after the bombings.

The radical Sunni group Jundollah, meaning Soldiers of God, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, calling it retaliation for the execution last month of its leader Abdolmalik Rigi.

Among those killed were also six members of the Revolutionary Guards and two policemen.

Iran blamed the United States and Israel for the bombings. US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton both condemned the attacks and called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

Sistan-Beluchistan province borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and is a major drug-trafficking region as well as one of the country’s most unstable areas.