Iran has sworn to retaliate against the terrorists who bombed an Iranian military convoy that killed at least 27 soldiers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). While Hezbollah has stated that US and Israel are behind the terror attack but Pakistan based terror-outfit Jaish al-Adl has claimed responsibility.
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Bahram Ghasemi, a spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that terrorist organizations were able of committing such an “inhumane act” because of the support of some countries in the region. He didn’t specify those countries, but Tehran has often accused UAE and Saudi Arabia in the past of supporting Sunni militant groups inside Iran.
In what is seen as one of the deadliest attacks on IRGC personnel inside Iran in years, Wednesday’s suicide attacker crashed an explosive-laden vehicle into a military bus, carrying IRGC elite members in southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province.
Iranian state media have blamed Jaish al-Adl or “Army of Justice,” an al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group for the bombing. Several social media accounts affiliated with the group also took credit for the attack. The attack comes two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Jaish al-Adl
Jaish al-Adl (JA) is a Sunni insurgent group in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province and has been fighting Iranian security forces in the region. The restive Sistan and Baluchistan, which is home to many ethnic Sunni Baluch, is one of the most underdeveloped and poverty-stricken areas in the country. The ethnic group has complained about the lack of economic opportunities and political freedoms in the province.
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JA describes itself as a “political-military” movement and claims to be fighting to achieve justice for the “oppressed Sunni Baluch” people. JA was founded in April 2012 by Abdul Rahim Mollazehi, a Baluch militant, after the Iranian regime captured and executed Abdul Malek Rigi, the former leader of the Jundullah insurgent group that claimed to be fighting for “equal rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran,” in June 2010.
Jaish al-Adl operates primarily in Sistan and Baluchistan, but it also operates from bases in the neighbouring Baluchistan province in Pakistan where it gets support from local Baluch tribes.
“These tribes have a tradition of helping and harbouring members of allied tribes. Many tribes in Pakistani Baluchistan support their oppressed brothers in Iran,” he added. Local tribes control large swaths of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan regions and neither Iranian nor Pakistani security forces have a permanent presence there.
Hamas Blames Israel, US
The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has strongly condemned a deadly terrorist attack on a group of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces in southeastern Iran, accusing the US, the Israeli regime and their regional allies of nurturing the Takfiri elements behind the Wednesday attack.
Hezbollah said in a statement the attack that killed 27 IRGC members and wounded 13 others portrayed the true image of the organized terrorism led by the US government, which encourages other countries to follow suit.
“Intimidated by the Iranian nation’s huge turnout in the rallies marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, these criminals sought to send a bloody message” by carrying out the suicide attack, the statement added.
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