Suicide bomber kills 31 in attack on Iran Guards

By Fredrik Dahl and Reza Derakhshi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed six senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, including two of its top officers, and 25 other people on Sunday in one of the boldest attacks against Iran's most powerful military institution.

The attack highlighted deepening instability in the Islamic Republic's southeast bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, where many of Iran's minority Sunnis live and which has seen a spate of deadly bombings and other violence in the last few years.

State media said a local rebel Sunni group called Jundollah (God's soldiers) claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest on the elite Revolutionary Guards in recent years, which also wounded some 30 people at a meeting of tribal chiefs.

The southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan is the scene of frequent clashes between security forces, ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgents and heavily-armed drug traffickers.

The region has also been the focus of attacks in recent years by Jundollah, which accuses Iran's Shi'ite-led government of discrimination. Iranian officials have accused Jundollah of receiving backing from al Qaeda and the United States.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the perpetrators would be "seriously dealt with," the official IRNA news agency said.

Iran's armed forces accused the United States and Britain of involvement in the attack carried out by "terrorists" and warned of revenge, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

REVENGE?

The deputy head of the Guards' ground forces, General Nourali Shoushtari, and its commander in Sistan-Baluchestan province, General Rajabali Mohammadzadeh, were among the killed.

"Rigi's terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack," said state television, referring to Abdolmalek Rigi, leader of Jundollah which is linked by some analysts to the Taliban in neighboring Pakistan.

"Not in the distant future we (Iran) will take revenge ... and Baluchis will clear this region from terrorists and criminals," Fars quoted the armed forces statement as saying, referring to the inhabitants of Sistan-Baluchestan province, where the attack took place.

State television showed footage of three bodies covered with blood-stained clothing and of wounded people being taken to hospital. Glass shards and other debris were scattered at the scene of the attack.

Predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran accuses the United States of backing Jundollah to stir trouble in sensitive border areas, a charge that Washington denies. Tehran has also linked the group to the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda network.

In Washington, the United States condemned the bombing and denied it had anything to do with it.

"We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives. Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.