Consider Jundallah’s Attack in a Wider Context

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Screengrab from al-Alam TV footage of a wounded man arriving at a hospital in Pisheen. Photograph: Al-Alam/AFP/Getty Images

Recent news of a suicide bombing carried out in the Iranian southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan near the Iran-Pakistan border rattled the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) when senior Revolutionary Guard officials were included among the victims. Jundallah, a Sunni extremist group that has initiated other deadly bombings in the past, has claimed responsibility for the death count which has now exceeded 30. In 2008 award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an important article in The New Yorker alleging that Jundallah was being covertly funded by the Bush Administration. If you haven’t already, be sure to read that article here. You can also listen to Hersh discussing his findings in more detail during a 2008 NPR interview below.



Originating out of Pakistan, the Baluchi based Judallah (“soldiers of God”)—now referring to themselves as the People’s Resistance Movement of Iran—have been in existence since at least 2003 and would no doubt be engaging in this behavior regardless of whether or not they were being funded by the CIA. The people of Sistan and Baluchestan are among Iran’s most destitute. In addition to enduring ethnic discrimination and sectarian strife, Sistani and Baluchi people are also plagued with high unemployment and underdevelopment, as well as the negative side-effects of drug-trafficking which is rampant in the region. Although Jundallah representatives have disputed this claim, the group is also believed to harbor separatist ambitions. The threat of further civil strife in the region was one of the reasons why Iranian officials were scheduled to meet with tribal leaders in the first place—further instability in the region can only lead to more threats to the security of the IRI.
The existence of groups like Jundallah, coupled with other past and present moves by foreign powers to destabilize the Iranian government, are at least part of the reason why the IRI is so quick to blame foreign powers for its domestic troubles. The IRI is guilty of torturing its citizens, executing them without fair judicial processes, and implementing strict censorship measures on freedom of speech and other democratic institutions within the country, but it has every reason to be paranoid. Lest we forget that in July 2009 the US Senate adopted the Victims of Iranian Censorship (VOICE) Act (now incorporated into the Annual Defense Appropriations Bill) which allocates more than 50 million US dollars to:

…help strengthen the ability of the Iranian people to get access to news and information and overcome the electronic censorship and monitoring efforts of the Iranian regime.

Senators John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham are among the concerned American government officials who induced the Bill. Their concern for the “Iranian people” is about as genuine as that of US congresswoman Jane Harman, who after fierce criticism from the National Iranian American Council, recanted her previous statement arguing that:

The Persian population in Iran is not a majority, it is a plurality. There are many different, diverse, and disagreeing populations inside Iran and an obvious strategy, which I believe is a good strategy, is to separate those populations.

Are all Iranian political dissent groups a product of foreign intervention? Absolutely not. Anyone who is even mildly familiar with the domestic situation in Iran can understand that much of the political dissent (past and present) is a justified result of the government’s own failures in meeting its people’s varied needs. On the other hand, one also wonders how the IRI’s response to internal dissent would differ if it wasn’t forced to deal with the constant threat of foreign domination. Whenever an event like this takes place in Iran one must consider all other possibly related events, results, motivations and reasons beyond the obvious. Unfortunately and as always though, amidst this tense and extremely complex political atmosphere are the people of Iran, who, be they in Tehran or Baluchestan, never have simple, clear-cut choices in front of them. Rather, they are always faced with those choices which ultimately result in determining who, or what, is the lesser evil.

Ahmadinejad Vows to Avenge Revolutionary Guard Suicide Bombing
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18/10/2009 At least 29 people, including senior military officers and tribal leaders, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of the elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran on Sunday, the interior ministry said.

"Based on the information... as a result of today's terrorist action... so far 29 people have been martyred and 28 have been wounded," the ministry said on its website.

"The martyrs include several innocent Shiite and Sunni people, tribal chiefs and commanders of Guards (including senior officers in the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps including deputy chief of the ground forces Brigadier General Nour Ali Shushtari). Very soon we will catch the perpetrators of this terrorist action and punish them."

The explosion took place in the city of Pisheen in the south eastern province of Sistan-Bluchestan near the border with Pakistan and at least 20 people were killed.

The strike took place when officers from the Guards were preparing to stage a meeting between local leaders of Shiite and Sunni communities.

Some local tribal heads and several senior officers of the Guards were among the slain.
"In this terrorist act, General Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, General Mohammad-Zadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Sistan-Baluchestan province, the Guards' commander for the town of Iranshahr and the commander of the Amir al-Momenin unit died," the Fars news agency reported.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed to strike back at the "criminals" behind a suicide bombing that targeted the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The criminals will soon get the response for their anti-human crimes," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. The Iranian leader also accused unspecified foreigners of involvement.

Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani confirmed the officers' death in an announcement to parliament which was broadcast on television.

Larijani said the United States was implicated in Sunday's bomb attack.

"We consider the recent terrorist attack to be the result of US action. This is a sign of America's animosity against our country," Larijani said.

"Mr. Obama has said he will extend his hand towards Iran, but with this terrorist action he has burned his hand," he added, referring to US President Barack Obama.

Iran has previously accused shadowy group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) of launching regular attacks in the province, which borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

US CONDEMNS BOMBING, DENIES INVOLVEMENT

Meanwhile, the United States condemned the suicide bombing that struck Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, and denied any involvement in the attack.

"We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives," State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement.

Suicide bomber kills 29 in attack on Iran’s Guards and Jundullah claims responsibility

Posted by realistic bird under Politics Tags: Britain, Iran, Jundullah, news, Politics, terror attack, US

The 400 million dollars the US supplied to destabilize Iran surfaces again in another terror attack. Obama is not as bright as many thought. If he thinks Iran is going to help him in Iraq and Afghanistan he are sadly mistaken. Haven’t the US learned yet that these actions are reversed on it? No, not bright at all.

Suicide bomber kills 29 in attack on Iran’s Guards

By Jay Deshmukh and Farhad Pouladi (AFP)

October 18, 2009
TEHRAN — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a meeting of the elite Revolutionary Guards in southeastern Iran on Sunday, killing 29 people including top commanders and tribal leaders, the interior ministry said.
The attack took place in the city of Pisheen near the border with Pakistan in restive Sistan-Baluchestan province, which hosts a substantial Sunni population, local news agencies said.
Iran’s parliament speaker said the United States was behind the attack, while the Guards accused Western powers of carrying out the assault, the deadliest against them since a bombing in February 2007 in the same province killed 13 people.
“Based on the information… as a result of today’s terrorist action… so far 29 people have been martyred and 28 have been wounded,” the interior ministry said on its website.
“The martyrs include several innocent Shiite and Sunni people, tribal chiefs and commanders of Guards. But very soon we will catch the perpetrators of this terrorist action and punish them.”
Iran’s state broadcaster said Sunday’s blast occurred at around 8:00 am (0430 GMT) in front of a local gymnasium in Pisheen.
Fars news agency said the bomber struck when Guard officers were preparing for a meeting with local leaders of Shiite and Sunni communities. Some local tribal heads were among the dead, media reports said.
The official IRNA news agency said the suicide bomber “wearing an explosives vest blew himself up inside the meeting.”
Fars said: “In this terrorist act, General Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, General Mohammad-Zadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Sistan-Baluchestan province, the Guards’ commander for the town of Iranshahr and the commander of the Amir al-Momenin unit died.”
Three other commanders from the adjacent province of Kerman were also killed, according to Fars.
Parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani confirmed the officers’ deaths in an announcement to parliament which was broadcast on television.
“The goal of the terrorists is to disturb the security of the Sistan-Baluchestan province,” he told parliament.
“It shows they do not want to have economic progress in this region. But certainly the Guards will act with more force to establish security in the region.”
In a separate statement later he said the United States was implicated in the deadly attack.
“We consider the recent terrorist attack to be the result of US action. This is the sign of America’s animosity against our country,” Larijani said.
“Mr. Obama has said he will extend his hand towards Iran, but with this terrorist action he has burned his hand,” he said referring to US President Barack Obama’s repeated diplomatic overtures to Tehran.
The Guards said foreign powers were behind the attack.
“The world arrogance, by provoking its lackeys and mercenaries in the region, carried out a terrorist attack on a popular meeting between the Guards and tribesmen,” the Guards said in a statement carried by local media.
Iranian officials and several government bodies term Western powers, including the United States, as “world arrogance.”
Aladdin Borujerdi, senior MP and head of parliament’s commission on national security and foreign policy, also pointed the finger at Washington.
“The enemies of the Islamic revolution, especially the United States is the main supporter of terrorist networks” such as the Sunni group Jundallah (Soldiers of God) led by Abdolmalek Rigi and operating in Iran, he was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency.
Iranian officials have previously accused Britain and the United States of supporting ethnic minority rebels of Jundallah operating in the sensitive border areas, especially in Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Jundallah is strongly opposed to the government of predominantly Shiite Iran.
Zahedan, a dusty and restive border city, has been subjected to low-level unrest for several years.
On May 28, at least 25 people were killed when a Shiite mosque in the city was attacked by a suicide bomber.
Copyright © 2009 AFP.

Jundullah claims responsibility for terror attack

Sun, 18 Oct 2009, Press TV

Jundullah has accepted responsibility for the deadly attack that rocked a security gathering in southeast Iran, killing 29 people and wounding another 28.
The Jundullah terror ring, which is led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted a unity gathering between Sunni and Shia tribal leaders in the borderline Pishin region, near the city of Sarbaz.
Several top regional security officials such as provincial commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) including Brigadier Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Brigadier Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh were also killed in the explosion.
The explosion, which occurred at 08:00 local time (4:30), also claimed the lives of a group of tribal leaders and well known local figures of both the Shia and Sunni communities.
The IRGC has condemned the attack as a gross act if “global arrogance” and a “horrific crime against humanity, carried out as revenge against the people who were working together to ensure the security of the region.”
Jundullah is a Pakistan-based terrorist group closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization.
The terror ring has carried out countless bombings and other violent attacks in Iran. Some of the attacks for which it has claimed responsibility are the killings of at least 16 Iranian police officers in a 2008 attack, nine Iranian security guards in 2005, and another 11 in a 2007 bombing.
A 2007 Sunday Telegraph report revealed that the CIA created Jundullah to achieve ‘regime change in Iran’, and said the US intelligence agency was trying to destabilize Iran by ’supplying arms-length support’ and ‘money and weapons’ to the group.
Another report posted by ABC also revealed that the US officials had ordered Jundullah to ’stage deadly guerrilla raids inside the Islamic Republic, kidnap Iranian officials and execute them on camera’, all as part of a ‘programmatic objective to overthrow the Iranian government’.
In a recent interview with Press TV, Rigi’s brother Abdulhamid also confirmed that the Jundullah leader had established links with the US agents.
His brother said that in just one of his meetings with the US operatives, Rigi had received $100,000 to fuel sectarianism in Iran.