WarSclerotic

DEBKAfile – Two Iranian generals among 31 killed by suicide bomber in southeast province

October 18, 2009, 1:16 PM (GMT+02:00)

Gen. Nur-Ali Shushtari, commander of al Qods foreign terror bases.

Two of the five senior Revolutionary Guards commanders killed by a suicide bomber in Sitan-Baluchistan Sunday, Oct. 18, were identified as Gen. Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the IRGC ground forces, and Gen. Mohammad-Zadeh, chief IRGC commander of the province. The suicide bomber detonated his vest as the officers entered a hall in the town of Sarbaz to lead a peace conference between Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders of this predominantly Sunni province.

Iran state TV accused Britain of complicity in the attack Iran state TV accused Britain of complicity in the attack which left at least 31 dead and dozens wounded including 5 senior Iranian commanders.

The loss of top IRGC commanders is a grave blow to the elite corps. DEBKAfile‘s Iranian and counter terror sources report Gen. Shuhstari’s covert position as commander of the Al Qods Brigades’ bases abroad, in such places as Iran and Afghanistan and in support of the Hizballah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Al Qods runs the IRGC terrorist campaigns outside Iran.

Shushtari was also Gen. Qassem Suleimeni, the Revolutionary Guards’ chief’s deputy.

The Sunni Jundallah underground, which is strongly opposed to the Shiite government of Iran, appears to be behind the attack. The assassin would have mingled with the officers entering the hall and blowing himself up in their midst – a method used by al Qaeda in Iraq to blow away Sunni tribal leaders working with the US army.

Iran’s state media did not immediately release separate numbers of dead and injured. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani made a special announcement to inform lawmakers of the attack, charging that “Western elements” were behind it.

Our sources describe Jundallah as a Baluchi terrorist group fighting for Baluchi independence of Iran. According to some Western and Iranian sources, it is supported by the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence agency and the CIA. In 2007, Jundallah staged a failed assassination attempt on president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Tehran has since pestered Islamabad to rein in the group to no avail.

This entry was posted on October 18, 2009 at 12:00 PM and is filed under Iran / Israel War. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.