TrueBlueAmerican

Title
Al Qaeda attacks Iran

Link
The Associated Press: Bomb Kills 9 at Mosque in Southern Iran
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Excerpt

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A bomb explosion in a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers in southern Iran killed at least nine people and injured more than 100 Saturday, local media reported.

The semi-official Fars news agency said the explosion in the city of Shiraz went off as a cleric was delivering his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith.

The report said nine people were killed and 105 injured, some of them critically. The force of the explosion shook houses more than a mile away, and ambulances and firefighters were rushing to the mosque, it said. Officials urged the public to donate blood and called all nurses in the city in on duty.

A police official said a homemade bomb caused the explosion, Fars reported. It also quoted a young woman who was there as saying some 800 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of the explosion.

Bombings are unusual in Shiraz, a major draw for foreign tourists who come to see the ruins of nearby Persepolis, an ancient Persian kingdom that was a center for ceremonies and worship. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have been behind rare but deadly attacks in recent years — though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.

In February 2007, a car loaded with explosives blew up near a bus carrying members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, killing 11 of them and wounding more than 30 in southeastern Iran. A Sunni militant group that has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops claimed responsibility.

Some believe the group, known as Jundallah, is linked to al-Qaida. Jundallah, or God's Brigade, has waged a low-level insurgency in southeastern Iran.

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Comment:

Seems like fighting al Qaeda in Iraq and elsewhere is in the best interests of Iran and the United States. Who knew.

K2Flex

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To me, this bombing sounds fishy, just like the attack boat incident.

__________________
Even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I shall fear no evil. For I'm the meanest motherfucker in the whole fucking valley!
What is the goal of fear.....Power.

Heavy_monkey2.0

al qadea huh? perhaps iran would like to throw its hat in the ring and take a best shot at "nation building" all while fighting a terrible threat to their national security (crazy Al Q)...fight/occupying them overthere (oil fields...er IRAQ) so they dont have to fight them in tehran.... there is something about Akallahpeanutbutterjihadsandwiches (Iran nutjob leader) that makes me think of dubya, something in the eyes maybe...

Rollerball

I thought the rules about posting news articles is that you need to use exact text. No where in the headline or the text of this story say that Al Qaeda is responsible for this bombing.

In fact the only time Al Qaeda is mentioned is when they referance a bombing there in Feb. 2007 by a group called Jundallah, which is linked to al-Qaida. No one claimed responsibility for this attack.

That would be pretty sweet to believe that Al Q was Iran's headache now but let's keep it real.

Rollerball

I think you're right about their nutjob leader being as fucked in the head as our nutjob leader. And from what I hear, on news sources that are not leading Bush's parade to war with Iran, the Iranian people think Ahmadinejad sucks same the way as we think our beloved leader sucks.

BUT THEY ELECTED HIM!

...yeah, that's our excuse too.

Heretic

While it likely is al-Qaeda no one has yet established that. Still, the fact that our government [and our meia] don't mention- much less condemn it, will last as a mark against us.

__________________
"Enough!!" -so rang Barack Obama's voice off the walls of Mile High Stadium

Rollerball

CBS Sunday Morning mentioned the bombing, but they said it was reported to be an accident.

Accidental explosions in a Mosque? What kind of prayer books do they use?

Heavy_monkey2.0

i just think it would be ironic that another country that covets the ME would use what NOW seems to be our current/ONLY reason for occupying Iraq as the justification for doing the same.....

sorry i guess i am jumping myself here, but i believe that Iran would love nothing more than unfettered access to AL Q and following them all the way to bahgdad and they would be justified (as little as that word seems to mean lately) in 'eliminating'(invading) their headache...

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i will have to add that i have absolutely no IDEA how al qadea plays to the people of the ME who seems to hate each other enough to shoot first but seemingly can all agree that watching westerners get knocked on their asses is a nice change of pace...

Heretic

CNN "elaborated" on this by speculating that there's some confusion of whether old bad munitions were in the mosque.

It lends me to believe that CNN didn't even check the story out beyond reading some State Department press memo.

__________________
"Enough!!" -so rang Barack Obama's voice off the walls of Mile High Stadium

TrueBlueAmerican

Jundallah is basically a formal way of saying 'Al Qaeda- Iran Front'.

Al Qaeda is and always has been a natural enemy of Iran.

How can Iran not be fighting the war on terror if they are always fighting terrorist, whether they be the American/Israeli backed PJAK or Al Qaeda backed/inspired Sunni offshoots like Jundallah.

At any rate, Iran and the US both have incentives to go after al Qaeda together.

Al Qaeda kills Americans and Iranians just the same.