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Iranian Media: Blast at mosque kills 30

A blast in a mosque in the south-eastern Iranian city of Zahedan has killed 30 people and wounded 50 others, the official Iranian agency (IRNA ) says. The toll from the explosion, which struck Amir al-Mohini mosque on Thursday, was based on preliminary reports, IRNA said.

The agency quoted an unnamed official as saying that part of the mosque was destroyed and that rescue teams were transferring the bodies of the dead and injured.

Officials were investigating the cause of the explosion, it said.

"The bomb exploded at the time of evening prayer and killed a number of worshippers," Ali Mohammad Azad, the governor general of the province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan told reporters.

Azad said soon after the explosion "members of a terrorist group who wanted to get out of Zahedan were arrested."

"The members of the terrorist group intended to explode bombs in some other areas of Zahedan, but they have been arrested due to the efforts of the provincial intelligence office."

Azad said "bandits and terrorists intended to disturb the order in the province before the election considering the insecurity in the eastern neighbouring countries."

Zahedan is the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan province, which shares a border with Pakistan and is the scene of frequent clashes between Iranian police on the one hand and drug dealers and armed groups on the other hand.

In April 2008, the bombing of a packed mosque in the southern city of Shiraz during evening prayers left 14 people dead.

On December 31, 2008, a suicide attack killed four Iranians and in February, there was an explosion in a mosque which didn't leave any casualties but it's an area which is home to the Baluch minority and there has been a lot of tension between the Sunnis and Shias according to Aljazeera.

The strike in Shiraz was the first in decades in Iran's Persian heartland. The normally calm city is not in a border zone, nor is it home to any significant ethnic or religious minority population.

Iran has in the past blamed US and British agents based in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan for launching attacks on border provinces with significant ethnic minority populations. (Reuters, AFP, IRNA)

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