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Iranian police battle insurgents
Bomb is second this week for restive province
By Ali Akbar Dareini
The Associated Press
Posted February 17 2007
Tehran, Iran ·
Police and insurgents clashed after a bombing in southeastern Iran late Friday near the site where an explosion killed 11 members of the elite Revolutionary Guards this week, Iranian news agencies reported. "Minutes ago, the sound of a bomb explosion was heard in one of Zahedan's streets," the state-run news agency IRNA said, without giving more details. The Fars news agency said gunfights broke out between police and armed insurgents after the explosion. Fars quoted the governor of Zahedan, Hasan Ali Nouri, as saying the blast was a "sound bomb explosion"-- a device that creates a loud boom but that usually does not cause casualties.
The explosion was at a school in Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, which is on the border with Pakistan, Fars said. "The insurgents began shooting at people after the explosion. Clashes are continuing between police and the armed insurgents. Police have cordoned off the area," the Fars agency said. On Wednesday in Zahedan, a car bomb blew up a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards, killing 11. A Sunni Muslim militant group called Jundallah, or God's Brigade, which has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops, has claimed responsibility for the Wednesday bombing.
Iran has accused the United States of backing militants to destabilize the country. Tensions between Tehran and Washington are growing over allegations of Iranian involvement in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and over Iran's nuclear activities.
The IRNA quoted an unnamed "responsible official" late Friday as saying that one of those arrested on charges of involvement in Wednesday's bombing, identified as Nasrollah Shanbe Zehi, has confessed that the attacks were part of alleged U.S. plans to provoke ethnic and religious violence in Iran.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nat...ws-nationworld
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