TEHRAN: A suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite religious procession in the Iranian city of Chabahar Wednesday killing at least 39 people in an attack claimed by Sunni rebel group Jundallah. A pathologist cited by the official IRNA news agency said 38 bodies had been brought to the town's mortuary, among them women and children. A 39th casualty later succumbed to his wounds, the pathologist said. The bomber struck in a central square where worshippers were taking part in a religious procession, Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar told the ILNA news agency. “An individual walked up to some Red Crescent ambulances and blew himself up,” he said. Ali Mohammad Azad, Governor of Sistan-Baluchestan province, said: “Two terrorists were killed, one in the explosion and the second by police.” The prefect of Chabahar, Ali Bateni, said a third terrorist was later arrested. “There were two terrorists who were spotted before they carried out their attack but one of them managed to detonate his explosive vest,” Bateni told IRNA. “The ringleader of this terrorist action has been arrested.” Sistan-Baluchestan where Chabahar is situated has a significant Sunni community and has seen persistent unrest in recent years by the Sunni militants of Jundallah (Soldiers of God). The group claimed Wednesday's attack, saying it was to avenge the hanging of their leader Abdolmalek Rigi. It identified the two militants as Saiful Rahman Chabahari and Hessan Khashi. “This operation was a revenge for the hanging of the head of the movement Abdolmalek and other members of Jundallah,” the group said on its website junbish.blogspot.com. Jundallah, which says it is fighting for the rights of the province's large Sunni ethnic Baluchi community, has claimed many deadly attacks on Iranian security forces over the past decade as well as assaults that have led to civilian deaths. In July, it claimed responsibility for an attack on the Grand Mosque in the provincial capital Zahedan that targeted members of the Revolutionary Guards and killed 28 people.
