Thirty people were killed and 55 injured Wednesday in a suicide bombing at a mosque in Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the provincial governor said on Wednesday.
The attack occurred at the Iman Hussein mosque in Chabahar city where worshippers were attending the Ashura ceremony, the anniversary of the death of Hussein, the third Shi’ite imam.
Governor Ali Mohammad Azad told the news network Khabar that all the injured had already been transferred to nearby hospitals.
The governor also said that a second attacker had been killed before he could detonate his explosives.
Ali Batani, the governor of Chabahar city said the second terrorist was arrested before he could set off his bomb.
The first terrorist was reportedly killed when the first bomb went off.
Sunni rebels claim responsibility
Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been a target of terrorist attacks in the past, mainly by the Jundollah group, which claims to be fighting for the rights of Iran’s Sunni minority.
The government accuses the Sunni Muslim rebel group of being involved in drug-trafficking, kidnapping and bombings in Sistan-Baluchistan.
Jundollah said it was behind an attack, Al Arabiya television said.
The television reported the group’s claim in a news flash without giving further details.
Tehran also accuses the organisation of sowing discord between the Shiite majority and the Sunnis.
Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi was hanged in June a Tehran prison. — Sapa, DPA, Reuters