The bombing was a very big deal. It was indeed a suicide bombing, the man’s name was Abdul Rahed Mohammadi Sarabani, who was associated with the military wing of Jundullah, headed by Abdulmalik Khan Rigi. The IRGC had killed two of his brothers, and this was an act of vengeance, carried out to inflict maximum damage on the RGs. The target was a large theater, which holds up to two thousand people. It is part of a large military complex, one of the most important in the country.
The people there were attending an urgent strategy session. Due to the recent attacks by the Pakistani armed forces in Waziristan, many al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and fighters had fled to the Iranian side of the Baluchistan border (Sarbaz is less than an hour’s drive from the Pakistani side). Here is a map from Google.
The purpose of the strategy session was to assist the terrorists, to help them reorganize, to rearm them, to arrange to get them back into Pakistan and, for at least some of them, thence to Afghanistan. For that reason, attendance counted many very important people.
The gathering in Sarbaz included not only top RG officials (including the commander in chief, General Mohammed Ali Jaafari, whose fate is unknown as of now), but also top civilian intelligence officers from the State of Sistan and Balouchistan (the second largest state in Iran), and members of an elite RG brigade named after the Imam Ali, along with the military governor of the city of Sarbaz, and the terrorists who had run away from Pakistan. The bomber, Sarabani, was dressed in an officer’s uniform, and he knew exactly where to go. The blast brought down the roof of the structure.
The real casualty figures are impossible to obtain, but they are considerably higher than the ones officially announced. At a minimum, 108 were killed, including 57 members of the Revolutionary Guards. Some of the names have already been announced, but so far Jaafari’s name has not been mentioned.
I cannot evaluate the impact on the AfPak theater, but it may be significant. It has already had a major impact on the border area. All flights in and out of Sarbaz and nearby cities were canceled Sunday and Monday, and the roads are blocked. Many local hospitals are counting the dead and treating the wounded. One hospital, in Iranshahr, reported more than fifty fatalities.
Meanwhile, there are other explosions. The most famous tea factory in the country, the Golestan Tea Factory, has been burned to the ground. There were reports of an explosion near the Oil Ministry in downtown Tehran on Sunday night (blamed on a faulty air tank), and there have been three major fires in the Tehran Bazaar since mid-June. Airplane incidents are so common they are rarely noted. A train from Tehran to Kerman derailed on Sunday evening, and it’s a train that typically carries many military personnel. And, as several reports have noted, in addition to the bombing in Blouchistan, there was also an ambush of a Revolutionary Guard convoy.
An explosive situation. And a big opposition demonstration is scheduled for November 4th.
UPDATE: Apparently Jaafari survived. He is quoted by an Iranian news agency, as per the New York Times. He blames US and Britain for the bombing. If he is indeed alive, this would be the second assassination attempt he has survived in recent months.
It couldn’t happen to a more deserving crowd.
Michael, I am guessing that we are a ways away from the worst option that the infidel mullahs can inflict, namely the orders given by Hitler to Speer, which were rejected, to render Germany uninhabitable for a century.
But, given all that is going wrong with crashes, explosions, and what not, the only difference is, Iran will be more habitable than Germany if Hitler’s orders were carried out. But, not that much more.
Michael,
Do you think that the “Langley Crowd” would ever publicly admit to the news that Iranian Government / Revolutionary Guard, could be so shrewd to play such a sneaky game of deception to safeguard the Taliban inside Iran, and try to regroup and reorganize them in the midst of a rapprochement?
-I am not so sure if such a truth could be true enough to their ears…and you will hear from so many “experts” testifying it is nonsense to think such comradery between Shia’ RG and Vahabi Taleban…
-I am not so sure if such a truth could be true enough to their ears…and you will hear from so many “experts” testifying it is nonsense to think such comradery between Shia’ RG and Vahabi Taleban
First of all Even if Taleban massacred Shia when tehy were in power and have smae opinion tahn Whabia about thay are Deobandis not Wahabis proper (1). Second: saying that Iran would not ally with Taleban or that Sadm Huseein would not ally with Al Quaida reminds of those people who said that Soviet Union and Nazi Germany would never ally to one another.
(1) Rasul Abdul Sayaf from the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance is a wahabi. Note that it was he who extended safe conducts to the false reporters who killed Ahmad Shah Massood
this oughta work!
we kill a bunch of their generals, then plant a bunch of stories about how iran “vows revenge”, then do another little false flag on ourselves —preferable a nuke false flag that will once and for all discredit the iran nuke naysayers— blame the false flag on iran, then we’re off to the races.
good deal.
map of pishin bombing
overview: operation enduring turmoil, irafpak
overview: PNAC/AEI/exxon/israeli plan
I’m not smart enough to conjecture about who-done-it but I can say WELL DONE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, MORE POWER TO YA, ATTA BOY, HOW ABOUT NEXT WEEK? etc-al
When the Cat’s away, the mice will kill each other.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KJ20Ak03.html
Using peaceful means to fight a terrorist regime, i.e. Islamic regime in Iran, is like using low dose aspirin to cure a cancerous tumor. The only way to treat a cancerous tumor is to cut it out. Appeasing the wolf by the sheep will end up in the slaughter of the sheep.
Dear Mr Ledeen, what do you have to say to this?
http://farsi.khamenei.ir/photo-album?id=8253&pid=89236
I believe your news turns out to be false again, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei has met with Koran researchers today.
Best of luck to you and your unreliable sources.
Mr. Ledeen’s account is fascinating — but who are his sources? A news report without verifiable, identifiable sources raises questions for further attention but it doesn’t inspire confidence. Or have I missed a citation?