Suicide bombers kill 40 in restive Iranian province

Suspected suicide bombers in Iran’s restive south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan killed at least 40 Shia Muslims and injured more than 50 amid mounting sectarian strife in the Sunni-dominated region.

Local media reported that two suicide bombers infiltrated crowds of mourners who had gathered in the port of Chabahar on Wednesday for a two-day national festival to commemorate the death of the third Shia imam.

Extremist Sunnis consider Ashura, the Shia mourning ritual for Imam Hossein, during which participants parade in the streets and beat themselves with chains, to be heretical.

After the first explosion, which struck near a Shia mosque at about 10.30am local time, security forces killed the second bomber before he could set off a device, state television reported. Early reports said that women and children were among the dead.

Al-Jazeera English language television reported that Jundollah, a militant Sunni group that seeks independence for Iran’s ethnic Baluch minority, claimed responsibility of the attack.

Jundollah has a long record of similar bombings, including one in July on the birthday of Imam Hossein in apparent retaliation for the execution of Abdolmalek Rigi, a leader.

Tehran insists the group’s terrorist acts are financially and logistically supported by al-Qaeda and western intelligence services to undermine the Islamic regime.

Ali Larijani, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said on Wednesday that acts like the bombing in Chabahar could have been executed only by Israel and the US to fan differences between Sunnis and Shias.

Alistair Burt, the British foreign office minister responsible for the Middle East and North Africa, condemned the bombing: “The UK strongly condemns this atrocity. We deplore terrorism in all its forms,” Mr Burt said in a statement.

Tensions in Iran’s ethnic regions of Sistan-Baluchestan and north-western province of Kurdistan, which are home to most of the country’s Sunnis, have intensified since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad as president in 2005.

According to his critics, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad promotes a radical version of Shiism, which has fuelled sectarian divisions.

Meanwhile, suppression of ethnic minorities has increased since a disputed election last year, which opposition groups view as having weakened the central government.

Reform-minded analysts also criticise the regime’s practice of executing opposition members in Sistan-Baluchestan and Kurdistan which, they say, provokes backlashes.

Persians constitute just over 50 per cent of Iran’s 73m population. Azeris, Arabs, Kurds, Baluchis and Lurs form the rest.