On February 13, 2019, a suicide bombing on the Khash–

Zahedan Zahedan ( Balochi and fa, , ' ) is a city and capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 587,730. The city was the site of a deadly crackdown in October 2022, with dozens citizens killed by pro- ...

road in Sistan and Baluchestan Province of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

killed at least 27

Revolutionary Guards The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

and wounded another 13. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iran in years. The

Salafi jihadist Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Sa ...

militant organization

Jaish ul-Adl Jaish ul-Adl, or Jaish al-Adl ( ar, جيش‌ العدل, lit=Army of Justice; bal, جئیش الئدل), is a Salafi Islamist militant organization that operates mainly in southeastern Iran, where there is a substantial concentration of Sunni B ...

("Army of Justice") said it carried out the bombing.

Bombing

The bomber targeted a bus transporting military personnel on the Khash–Zahedan road ( Road 95) in Sistan and Baluchestan province, near the border with Pakistan. The area is a refuge for militant separatist groups and

drug smuggler The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

s. The bomber detonated a car full of explosives near the bus, killing 27

and injuring 13. The soldiers were coming back to their cities after carrying out the border mission by the bus. Jaish al-Adl, a group connected to Al-Qaeda and involved in some of the recent

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

activities in southeast Iran took responsibility for the suicide bombing. In October 2018, 11 Iranian border Guards were kidnapped by the group, only 5 of them were released. The Senior Revolutionary Guards commander of Iran claimed that the suicide bomber was a Pakistani national and one other member of the militant cell that planned the attack was also Pakistani. Furthermore, he claimed that three other members of militant cells were Iranian nationals from Sistan and Baluchestan. Out of those three Iranians, two were arrested.

Reactions

Ali Khamenei,

Supreme Leader of Iran The Supreme Leader of Iran ( fa, رهبر ایران, rahbar-e irān) is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supreme Leader directs the executive system and judicial system of the Islamic theocratic government and is the co ...

declared that ''"It is evidently certain that the perpetrators of this crime are connected to the intelligence services of some of the countries inside as well as outside the region."'' Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani claimed that the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

was behind the attack on Iranian Revolutionary Guards bus. He also vowed revenge against Jaish Al-Adl. Iran's Foreign Minister

Mohammad Javad Zarif Mohammad Javad Zarif Khansari ( fa, محمدجواد ظریف خوانساری, Mohammad-Javād Zarīf Khānsāri ; ; born 8 January 1960) is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He was the foreign minister of Iran from 2013 until 2021 in th ...

linked the suicide bombing targeting the country's elite Revolution Guard to an ongoing, U.S.-sponsored Mideast meeting in Warsaw. Zarif tweeted Wednesday night: "Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that #WarsawCircus begins? Especially when cohorts of the same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with

Twitter bot A Twitter bot is a type of software bot that controls a Twitter account via the Twitter API. The social bot software may autonomously perform actions such as tweeting, re-tweeting, liking, following, unfollowing, or direct messaging other account ...

s?" Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with India's External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj Sushma Swaraj () (''née'' Sharma; 14 February 1952 – 6 August 2019) was an Indian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the Minister of External Affairs of India in the first Narendra Modi government from 2014 to 2019. She is only ...

and referring to both the 2019 Khash–Zahedan suicide bombing and the 2019 Pulwama attack, he stated: ''"Iran and India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough!"'' Iranian Major General

Mohammad Ali Jafari Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari ( fa, محمدعلی جعفری, born 1 September 1957, also known as Aziz Jafari and Ali Jafari) is a former commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps from 2007 to 2019. He was appointed by S ...

alleged that the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

ordered Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to carry out the attack. He also asked Pakistan to conduct a crackdown against the armed group Jaish al-Adl before Tehran "takes it revenge." Pakistan offered Iran cooperation in investigating the bombing and expressed sympathy for the victims of the attack. A Pakistani delegation was due to travel to Iran. Bahram Qassemi, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman declared "

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

will avenge the attack" and said it would not tolerate what it saw as Pakistan's "inability to stop

cross-border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders ...

attacks in Iran."

Ali Larijani Ali Ardeshir Larijani ( fa, علی لاریجانی, ; born 3 June 1957) is an Iranian conservative politician, philosopher and former military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Iran ...

, Iran's parliament speaker blamed Pakistan for the attack, saying that the attack was "planned and carried out from inside Pakistan". Muhammad Beghari, the military commander of Iran, told Pakistan to "either confront the terrorist groups or allow Iranian forces in."

Mourning

The mourning for the victims was held one day after the attack in Isfahan, Iran. The bodies of the victims were flown to Isfahan where press representatives and the affected families were waiting. The mourning ceremony was widely covered by media in Iran and the interview with families of the victims went viral in Iranian social media.

References

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Bombing

Reactions

Mourning

See also

References