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Sunni rebels claim deadly terror attack in Iran
Iranian officials say a Sunni militant group has claimed responsibility for a deadly car-bomb attack Wednesday morning against Iran's Revolutionary Guard in the provincial capital of Zahedan.
Iran's Fars News Agency reports that the Sunni militant group Jundallah, "led by a well-known gang leader Abdul-Malik Rigi, released a statement [Wednesday] and claimed responsibility for the terrorist operation."
The group under Abdul-Malik Rigi is well-known in Iran due to the several other terrorist operations that it has already conducted in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan.
The Guardian reports that the attack, which killed up to 18 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, was just the latest violence in southeast Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province, "one of Iran's most unstable provinces."
The attack took place in the Sistan-Baluchestan provincial capital, Zahedan, in south-east Iran, as the guards were being bussed to work. Witnesses said the bus was travelling in the city's Ahmadabad district when it was overtaken by a car which then stopped suddenly.
The car's occupants jumped out seconds before it exploded and fled in motorcycles parked nearby. Television footage showed the bus, which had 24 passengers, reduced to a mess of twisted wreckage.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports that the governor of Zahedan said that the "main culprit" in the attack "was killed by security forces during a hit and run operation." The IRNA also cites a smaller number of fatalities than some reports, saying "at least 11" guards were killed.
Though accused by the United States of sponsoring terrorism, Iran has not been immune to terrorist attacks. Reuters offers a chronology of major bombings in Iran, which include attacks on shrines, a bank, and a shopping mall.
Prior to Jundallah's claim of responsibility, an official from Zahedan told the Iranian parliament that "insurgents and drug traffickers" were behind the attack, The Associated Press reports. AP also writes that five of those involved in the attack were arrested.
Drug trafficking and insurgents have long been a problem in the Sistan-Baluchestan region of Iran, the Guardian writes.
Sistan-Baluchestan, straddling the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan and sitting on a major drugs route, has been the frequent scene of violent incidents involving militant Sunni groups and drug traffickers. More than 3,000 Iranian security personnel have been killed in armed clashes with traffickers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
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