Iraq: death toll from the six explosions

Iranian officials today blamed extremists and supporters of Saddam Hussein's &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/93/375/12579_Iraq.html ' target=_blank>Baathist regime for a string of bombings in the southwest of the country and Tehran.

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The death toll from the six explosions - the most serious bomb attacks in Iran for a decade - rose to ten this morning according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

One hundred people were injured, 26 of them seriously, in the attacks, which were concentrated in the city of Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/politics/2002/02/19/26502.html ' target=_blank>Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq.

Four bombs, one outside the governor's house and two outside the housing ministry, exploded in the provincial capital on Sunday, killing eight. Two devices exploded a few hours later in Tehran, one of them killing two in a crowded marketplace, tells the Times Online.

State-run television quoted hospital officials as saying at least eight people were killed and 86 injured in four bomb explosions in Ahvaz, capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province bordering Iraq.

Hours later, two small bombs exploded in central Tehran, killing one person and wounding four. Police said one suspect was taken into custody.

A spokesman for the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/cis/2002/06/14/30391.html ' target=_blank>Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security decision-making body, blamed groups affiliated to Saddam’s former Baathist regime in Iraq. State TV quoted spokesman Ali Agha Mohammadi as saying the perpetrators of the Ahvaz bombings had infiltrated into Iran from Basra in southern Iraq.

Some Sunni leaders in Iraq have accused Shiite Iran of meddling in Iraqi affairs by backing Shiite Muslim clergy and politicians in a bid to sway Iraq’s politics toward an Islamic establishment.

Iran denies the allegations, but some speculate that extremists loyal to Saddam could be trying to create insecurity in Iran ahead of the presidential polls.

Others pointed to a more local cause. Ahvaz was the site of recent violent protests against alleged plans to alter the proportion of Arabs and non-Arabs in the region, publishes the Manila Times. NR

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