2005–06 Ahvaz bombings
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
 |
| Ahvaz Bombings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ahvaz, Iran |
| Date | sporadically from 12 June, 2005 to 3 March, 2006 |
| Target | various government and public buildings |
Attack type | bombings |
| Deaths | at least 28 |
| Injured | at least 225 |
| Perpetrators | responsibility claimed by the Ahwazi Revolutionary Martyrs' Brigades; Iran alleges UK and US involvement |
| Motive | unknown |
The Ahvaz bombings were a series of bomb explosions that took place mostly in Ahvaz, Iran. In June 2005, the attacks have been claimed by the terrorist group known as the "Ahwazi Revolutionary Martyrs' Brigades", an Arab separatist group.
12 June 2005
The bombs in Ahvaz exploded over a two-hour period, four bombs have exploded, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 87 others, days before the presidential election. One of the bombs exploded outside the governor-general's headquarters. Two went off near government offices and a fourth exploded near the home of a local state television executive. Two Hours later, a bomb exploded in the capital Tehran, killing two people. Three other bombs were defused.
"These terrorists have been trained under the umbrella of the Americans in Iraq." The Iranian top national security official Ali Agha Mohammadi said.
There has been no official US denunciation of the attacks.
15 October 2005
Two bomb blasts have hit a shopping centre, killing at least 6 people and up to 90 people were injured. The attacks, a few minutes apart, took place near an area attacked by several bombs in June. The bombs were planted in rubbish bins. The blasts occurred shortly before dusk as shoppers crowded to buy food for the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
25 January 2006
At least 9 people were killed and 48 injured in two blasts. One bomb had exploded on Kianpars area, inside the Saman Bank, and had killed at least 9 people and wounded 45 others, the second explosion took place on Golestan Road next to the Natural Resources Department, a state environmental agency, causing injuries but no deaths. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been due to give a speech at a religious centre nearby, but the visit had been cancelled due to bad weather. Mr Ahmadinejad's media chief said he did not believe the bombs were linked to the planned visit, because there had been a series of similar blasts last year.
"Our heroes... in the military wing of The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz attacked and destroyed the dens of the occupying enemy" a statement posted on a Arab separatis organisation website said.
27 February 2006
Two bombs have exploded in the Iranian cities of Dezhpul and Abadan. In both cities, the devices were planted in the governor's offices. No serious injuries were reported.
3 March 2006
A bomb exploded hours after two men were hanged for a bomb blast last year. The percussion bomb shattered the windows of a building in the KianPars area on Thursday evening, but no casualties were reported.
UK, US involvement
The oil-rich Khuzestan province, which is home to about two million ethnic Arabs, has been rocked by a wave of unrest in April 2005. Iran accused British army forces across the border in southern Iraq of co-operating with bombers who carried out January's attacks in Ahvaz. The UK Foreign Office rejected the allegation. A little-known ethnic Arab separatist group said in a website statement that it was responsible for the blasts, in which 9 people were killed and 48 hurt.
"These terrorists have been trained under the umbrella of the Americans in Iraq." The Iranian top national security official Ali Agha Mohammadi said.
"...and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups."1 Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker Magazine.