Zahedan bombings intended to foment Sunni-Shia conflict: governor

At 11 p.m. on Friday, a bomb was blasted in Zahedan’s beltway, and was followed by the sound of shooting.

Wednesday’s terrorist act targeted Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) personnel as they were riding a bus from their housing compound to work.

Zahedan Governor Hassan-Ali Nuri said that Friday’s percussion bomb did not cause any casualties or damage.

The terrorists are attempting to incite division between Shias and Sunnis and provoke ethnic conflicts, Nuri commented.

However, Nuri told the Mehr News Agency that “Zahedan is in peace at the moment.”

Soltan-Ali Mir, the director of the political and security office at Sistan-Baluchestan province, said after Wednesday’s incident some weapons and ammunitions were found and “it is interesting that the weapons are made by the United States and Britain.”

Mir said the detained terrorists revealed in their confessions that they had some meetings in certain neighboring countries for their financial support and “this indicates that the U.S. and Britain are involved in the recent incidents.”

One of the detainees admitted that they were told to assassinate Sunni leaders and then accuse the Shias and thereby trigger ethnic conflicts, Mir added.

Wednesday’s attack was claimed by a Sunni militant group, Jundallah, which is headed by Abdulmalik Rigi, and has been blamed for committing terrorist acts in the country.

Provincial police commander Brigadier General Mohammad Ghafari said that three main perpetrators of the bombings and a total of 65 suspects have been arrested.

Zahedan’s representative in the Majlis, Hossein-Ali Shahriari, stated that after the explosion on Friday night “more than two thousand people” came to the region to “confront the vicious forces with bare hands”.

The recent bombings can have no objective but to cause terror, the MP underlined.

Condemning Wednesday’s terrorist bus attack, the United Nations Security Council on Thursday called for those responsible for the deadly incident to be brought to justice. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also condemned the terrorist bombing.

Thousands of Zahedan’s Shia and Sunni people have signed a petition calling for the establishment of security in the province and announced that they are prepared to cooperate in bringing stability to Zahedan.

RMN/MS

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MNA