Trouble in Islamic Paradise (Iran)

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18 Members of Iran's Terror-Sponsoring Unit Killed in Bombing

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Eighteen members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard - a group notorious for training Lebanese Hizballah and Palestinian Hamas terrorists - were killed in a car bomb explosion in the southeastern part of the country Wednesday. A local Guard commander, Colonel Qasem Rezaei, was quoted by the Iranian news agency IRNA as saying "saboteurs" had detonated a car bomb near a bus transporting the guardsmen. The FARS News Agency reported that security analysts believe that "a well-known gang leader ... has been in charge of the terrorist operation" and that four people had been arrested in connection with the attack. A group called Jundollah claimed responsibility in a statement. FARS said the group is well-known for having perpetrated several other terrorist operations in the area. The bombing occurred in a predominantly Sunni province near Iran's border with Pakistan. The area is populated by ethnic Baluchis, who have accused the regime in Tehran of discrimination. Sunnis make up about nine percent of predominantly Shi'ite Iran, which has a population of 70 million. The 130,000-strong Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), or Pasdaran, was designated guardian of the Islamic revolution after 1979, and is accused by the State Department of involvement in planning and supporting terrorism. It has particularly close ties to Hizballah, which it helped to establish in 1982. Exiled Iranian opposition groups say President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has filled the ranks of the cabinet with people with IRGC backgrounds, and Ahmadinejad is himself a former senior Pasdaran officer.