RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — At least five commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of other people were left dead and wounded on Sunday in two bombings in the restive southeast along Iran’s frontier with Pakistan, according to Iranian state news agencies.
The coordinated strike, one of the largest against the Guards in the region, appeared to mark an escalation in hostilities between Iran’s leadership and the Baluchi ethnic minority.
Iranian officials accused foreign enemies of supporting the insurgents, singling out the United States the day before Iran is set to meet for another round of delicate talks on its nuclear program with several Western countries.
“There is no doubt that this violent and inhumane act was part of the strategy of foreigners and enemies of the regime and the revolution to destroy unity between Shias and Sunnis and create divisions among the unified ranks of the great Iranian people,” said a statement issued by the Revolutionary Guards through the official IRNA news service.
[The Baluchi insurgent group Jundallah — or Soldiers of God — took responsibility for the bombings, which included a suicide attack on a community meeting led by Revolutionary Guards and a roadside attack on a car full of Guards, both in the area of the city of Pishin.
Jundallah, whose members are Sunni Muslims, has claimed responsibility for other attacks in the region in recent years, and is believed to have killed hundreds of Iranian soldiers and civilians. The southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan has been the scene of attacks in the past, and in April the government put the Guards Corps in control of security there to try to stop the escalating violence.
By late Sunday, official news reports said 29 people had been killed, including several tribal leaders, and 28 wounded. The reports did not specify how many casualties were guards and how many civilians.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised “that those who committed such criminal and inhuman acts will receive their response soon,” the state-run Press TV reported.
Iranian officials said they had evidence the attack was launched from within Pakistan, where Jundallah is based, and the Foreign Ministry late Sunday summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires, Press TV said.
Ali Larijani, the speaker of Parliament, said the United States bore some responsibility for the attacks. “If they want relations with Iran, they must be frank,” he said, according to the semiofficial ISNA news service, adding that “We consider the recent terrorist measure the outcome of the U.S. measures."
In the past, Iranian officials have accused the United States of financing and arming Jundallah.
The United States condemned the bombings and denied any connection with them. “We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives,” said Ian Kelly, a State Department spokesman. “Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false.”
The bombers struck early Sunday as the Guards prepared to bring regional Shiite and Sunni leaders together for a conference in Pishin to try to improve relations among the different communities, according to the Iranian news reports.
In one attack, a suicide bomber wearing a military uniform and an explosive belt entered a mosque where Guard commanders were organizing a reconciliation meeting, according to the semiofficial ILNA news service.
In the second attack, a car carrying a group of Guards members was bombed, state news agencies said.
According to the Fars News Agency, which is affiliated with the Guards, those killed included the lieutenant commander of ground forces, Brig. Gen. Nourali Shoushtari, as well as the commanders of Sistan-Baluchistan province, the Iranshahr Corps, the Sarbaz Corps and the Amiralmoemenin Brigade.
The Baluchis, who are mostly Sunni, are one of many ethnic and religious minorities who have complained of discrimination in Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim and ethnically Persian nation.
Jundallah, which says it is fighting for greater autonomy for Baluchis in Iran and Pakistan, bombed a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, in May, killing 25 people. Jundallah rebels abducted and killed 16 Iranian soldiers late last year, and bombed a bus carrying Guards members in 2007, killing 11.
Iranian authorities hanged 13 members of the group in May, and have executed others previously.
Mustafa El-Labbad, director of the East Center for Regional and Strategic Studies in Cairo, Egypt, said ethnic and sectarian divisions make the region particularly volatile. “There is the Baluchi versus Persian, and there is Sunni versus Shiite,” he said. “It also lies on the border with Pakistan, which is not totally secured — weapons can come through. So there is a very explosive blend there.”
The Guards have emerged as the most powerful political, social and economic bloc in the nation, eclipsing even the clergy and the conservatives. In the aftermath of Iran’s contested presidential election, the Guards took control of national security, overseeing a violent crackdown on protests as well as mass arrests of protesters and critics.
In this context, Mr. Labbad said, an attack on the Guards — no matter the motivation — has symbolic resonance. “It is designed to affect the image of Iran,” he said.
Iranian officials are slated to meet Monday in Vienna with officials of several countries to discuss an accord to ship uranium to Russia for enrichment, part of an effort by the West to try to halt Iran’s nuclear program.
Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Riyadh, and Nazila Fathi from Toronto.
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