Suicide Bombing Kills Revolutionary Guards

A suicide attack on a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards has left at least 27 dead and 13 injured according to the Guards-run Fars News Agency. The bombing on Wednesday, February 13 took place on Khash-Zahedan road in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan. 

An earlier report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said 20 had died and 20 people had sustained injuries. 

Terrorist separatist group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, which has carried out a number of attacks against the Guards and Iranian army forces in the last two decades, announced the attack on its Telegram messaging app channel.

The public relations office of the Revolutionary Guards’ Ground Forces issued a statement confirming [Persian link] parts of the reports. According to it, a car filled with explosives was used in the attack on the bus.

Reuters reported that the separatist Baluchi group has claimed responsibility for the terror attack. According to Fars News Agency, some media had originally put the number of deaths at 41. Foreign Ministry spokesman General Ali Shademani of the Revolutionary Guards reported that a number of the Guards have been hospitalized.

Shademani also said Iranian military and intelligence forces will “exact revenge for the blood of these martyrs” [Persian link], Without explicitly naming Jaish al-Adl, he added that the group responsible is “financially, militarily and ideologically supported by certain countries in the region” — a possible reference to Saudi Arabia and its allies. Other Iranian officials have accused Saudi Arabia of supporting acts of terror in Iran in the past, and Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi also said Jaish al-Adl received support from “some governments in the region.” Lebanese militant group Hezbollah condemned the attack and blamed it on the US, Israel and their allies in the region. 

Ghassemi added: “The brave sons of Iran will take revenge for the blood of today’s martyrs.” Commander Ali Fadavi, coordination deputy of the Guards said: “This was revenge against the people of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards 40 years after the revolution. As in previous instances, the terrorists will receive a strong and decisive response from us.” 

Revolutionary Guards spokesman General Ramezan Sharif said: “it is certain that a number of Guards have been martyred in tonight’s attack in Sistan and Baluchistan but we cannot say with certainty whether or not all Guards in the bus have been martyred or not.”

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also commented on Twitter: “Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins? Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results.” Zarif was referring to a two-day conference on the Middle East hosted by the United States in Warsaw, Poland.

In a statement, Ahmad Ali Mohebati, the governor of Sistan and Baluchistan, declared a three-day mourning in the province.

Sistan and Baluchistan, the poorest and least developed province in Iran, is home to a Sunni Muslim majority. Various political groups in the province say that Iran’s Shia government discriminates against the citizens for religious reasons.

This is a developing story.