http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...59H0AH20091018
Senior Iran Guards commanders killed in attack
Sun Oct 18, 2009 4:03am EDT
TEHRAN (Reuters) - At least two senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guards were assassinated in volatile southeastern Iran on Sunday, in an attack in which 60 people were killed or wounded, Iranian media reported.
The two commanders were the deputy head of the Guards' ground forces, General Nourali Shoushtari, and the Guards' commander in Sistan-Baluchestan province, General Mohammadzadeh, news agencies reported.
"Several Iranian military officers killed in terrorist attack," state Press TV said in a breaking news headline.
The official IRNA news agency, citing an unconfirmed report, said the Guards officials were on their way to a meeting of tribal leaders when they were attacked.
The semi-official Fars News Agency said they were attacked by unknown assailants, without giving details.
Sistan-Baluchestan, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, is the frequent scene of clashes between security forces, Sunni rebels and drug traffickers.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Update:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...fRYmgD9BDCIQ83
Revolutionary Guard commanders killed in Iran bomb
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI (AP) – 36 minutes ago
TEHRAN, Iran — A suicide bomber killed at least 20 people Sunday, including five senior commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, in southeastern Iran, the country's official news agency reported.
The IRNA news agency said the dead included the deputy commander of the Guard's ground force, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as the Guard's chief provincial commander, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. Dozens of others were wounded, the report said.
The commanders were inside a car on their way to a meeting in the Pishin region near Iran's border with Pakistan when an attacker with explosives blew himself up, IRNA said.
....There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion would likely fall on the Sunni militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which has carried out attacks against the Revolutionary Guard and against Shiite targets in southeastern Iran.
In May, the group took credit for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque that killed 25 people in Zahedan, the capital of Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan province, which has witnessed some of Jundallah's worst attacks. Thirteen members of the faction were convicted in the attack and hanged in July.
Jundallah, comprising Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic minority, have waged a low-level insurgency in recent years, accusing the mostly Shiite government of persecution.
Jundallah has carried out bombings, kidnappings and other attacks against Iranian soldiers and other forces in recent years, including a car bombing in February 2007 that killed 11 members of the Revolutionary Guard near Zahedan.
Jundallah also claimed responsibility for the December 2006 kidnapping of seven Iranian soldiers in the Zahedan area. It threatened to kill them unless members of the group in Iranian prisons were released. The seven were released a month later, apparently after negotiations through tribal mediators.