Foreign Policy Blogs

India: Not the Only Neighbor Upset with Pakistan

The terrorist attacked that killed more than 42 people, including 11 commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, is being blamed on Pakistan.  Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Pakistan of having links to the bombers who carried out a suicide attack.  President Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying that he knew “some security agents in Pakistan are co-operating with the main elements of this terrorist incident” in Sistan-Baluchestan province.  “We regard it as our right to demand these criminals from them”, he said, without giving further details.

Though Pakistan is not the only country to be blamed for these terrorist attacks.  The Iranian officials have accused both United States and the United Kingdom for these horrendous attacks.  As the Wall Street Journal reported, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Major-General Muhammad Ali Jafari has accused the U.S., the U.K. and Pakistan of having links with the Sunni militants responsible for the suicide bombing.  “New evidence has been obtained proving the link between yesterday’s terrorist attack and the U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence services,” state TV quoted Gen. Jafari as saying.  “Evidence shows that U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence supported the group.”  He said the attack was “undoubtedly” planned and ordered by the three nation’s intelligence services and that a delegation would soon travel to Pakistan to present evidence.

The main suspect for the bombing is the Sunni rebel group, known as Jundallah, or Soldiers of God.

Here is an Al-Jazeera report  detailing the suicide attack in Sistan-Baluchestan province:

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Author

Sahar Zubairy

Sahar Zubairy recently graduated from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas- Austin with Masters in Global Policy Studies. She graduated from Texas A&M University with Phi Beta Kappa honors in May 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. In Summer 2008, she was the Southwest Asia/Gulf Intern at the Henry L. Stimson Center, where she researched Iran and the Persian Gulf. She was also a member of a research team that helped develop a website investigating the possible effects of closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf by Iran.