TEHRAN – The Islamic State group claimed a deadly gun assault against amilitary parade in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran on Saturday, itssecond major attack in the Islamic Republic in 15 months.
Compared to regional peers, Iran has suffered only sporadic attacks inrecent years.
But a number of groups represent a threat to the Shiite powerhouse,including Kurdish separatists and Sunni extremists.
Tehran regularly accuses Saudi Arabia and the US of supporting anti-Iranian”terrorists”.
*- The Islamic State group -*
An attack early on September 22 in Ahvaz kills at least 29 and woundsscores of people, according to Arabic language state TV al-Alam.
Women and children are among the dead, as people gathered to mark theanniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq.
The deadly gun assault is claimed by IS on its propaganda agency Amaq, butIran´s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blames “terrorists recruited,trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime”. He holds the US accountable.
Ahvaz lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnicArab community and has seen separatist violence in the past.
IS claimed its first attack in Iran on June 7, 2017, when gunmen andsuicide bombers hit the parliament in Tehran and the shrine ofrevolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 people andinjuring dozens.
In a video released in March 2017, the jihadists threatened to retaliateagainst Iran for its military and logistical support to the Syrian andIraqi governments, as Damascus and Baghdad battled IS insurgencies.
The jihadists said they wanted to conquer Iran to “return it to the SunniMuslim nation” and to provoke a Shiite bloodbath.
*- Jundallah (Soldiers of God) -*
This extremist Sunni group began a bloody rebellion against the Islamicrepublic in 2000.
It draws on support from the Baluch ethnic group, which has a majorpresence in Sistan-Baluchistan province, bordering Pakistan andAfghanistan. The group has rear bases in both countries.
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Tehran has long alleged Jundallah received training from the American,British and Israeli intelligence services. It also accuses Pakistan ofsupporting the group.
– December 15, 2010: Jundallah claims a suicide attack against Shiitescelebrating Ashura in Chabahar in southeastern Iran. 34 are killed and morethan 80 wounded.
– July 15, 2010: Twin suicide bombings in a crowded Shiite mosque inZahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, kill at least 28 people and woundmore than 250. The attacks, targeting members of Iran´s elite RevolutionaryGuards, are claimed by Jundallah.
– October 18, 2009: Jundallah kill 42 people including severalRevolutionary Guard officers in Pishin, a city close to the Pakistanborder. The suicide attack targets a meeting between commanders and triballeaders called to enhance co-operation between Sunnis and Shiites.
– May 28, 2009: 25 people are killed and 125 wounded in a suicide bombingat the Amir al-Momenin Shiite mosque in Zahedan. The attack is blamed onJundallah.
– February 14, 2007: A car bomb attack against a bus in Sistan-Baluchistankills 13 and wounds 29.
*- Kurdish rebels -*
Iranian authorities have blamed “counter-revolutionary” groups based innortheastern Iraq for several attacks, particularly the KurdistanDemocratic Party of Iran and the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan.
– July 20, 2018: at least 10 Revolutionary Guards are killed in an attackled by insurgents against a base in the village of Dari, in the Marivandistrict of Iran´s northwestern Kurdistan region. The attack is not claimed.
– September 22, 2010: 12 people are killed and 81 wounded by a bombexplosion during a military parade in Mahabad, a city with a large Kurdishpopulation in Western Azerbaijan province, bordering Iraq and Turkey.
Most of the victims are women and children watching a parade commemoratingthe 30th anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. Iran blames”counter-revolutionary elements”.
After the attacks in Tehran on June 7, 2017, Iran ramped up anti-militantoperations across the country, targeting northwestern regions, the Iraqiborderlands and the Kurdish minority. – APP/AFP
