Iran Says Blast at Mosque Could Be Accidental
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/world/middleeast/14iran.html
April 14, 2008
Iran Says Blast at Mosque Could Be Accidental
By NAZILA FATHI [Iran] [domestic troubles] [Iran’s Sunni Wahhab and Bahai minorities] [racheting up violence and insurgency] [doubtless seen as supported by U.S. and U.S. Sunni allies in region] [another source of factional infighting?] [now it sounds as if yesterday’s repoted bombing was accidential munitions problem] [*****]
TEHRAN, April 13 — The death toll from a powerful explosion at a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz on Saturday evening rose to 12, the state news media reported Sunday. The number of those wounded had reached 202. A terrorist attack has not been ruled out, but officials said the blast could have been an accident.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/world/middleeast/14iran.html
April 14, 2008
Iran Says Blast at Mosque Could Be Accidental
By NAZILA FATHI [Iran] [domestic troubles] [Iran’s Sunni Wahhab and Bahai minorities] [racheting up violence and insurgency] [doubtless seen as supported by U.S. and U.S. Sunni allies in region] [another source of factional infighting?] [now it sounds as if yesterday’s repoted bombing was accidential munitions problem] [*****]
TEHRAN, April 13 — The death toll from a powerful explosion at a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz on Saturday evening rose to 12, the state news media reported Sunday. The number of those wounded had reached 202. A terrorist attack has not been ruled out, but officials said the blast could have been an accident.
Officials said Sunday that ammunition kept at the Shohada mosque for the past five years for an exhibition commemorating the 1980-88 war with Iraq could have caused the explosion. [*****]
The governor-general of Fars Province, Muhammad Reza Rezazadeh, told state-run television that investigators had not found any evidence that the blast was intentionally set.
The provincial police chief, Ali Moayeri, told the semiofficial Fars news agency that the explosion could have been caused by the ammunition.
“The incident could have been the result of negligence,” he was quoted as saying. “The ammunition left at the site could have caused the explosion.” [******]
However, a security and intelligence official at the Interior Ministry told the Mehr news agency otherwise. “It certainly was not an accident,” Abbas Mohtaj, the official, was quoted as saying. “We still do not know what happened, but we are investigating.”
Parliament asked two of its members who are responsible for national security to also look into the case, the Mehr news agency reported.
The explosion took place about 9 p.m. Saturday at the large mosque, where more than 2,000 young men and women gather every week, [****]news agencies reported. State news media reported Saturday that the powerful blast had been caused by a handmade bomb. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
State television showed images of the wounded men and women lying on hospital beds. The Mehr news agency reported that at least three people were in critical condition.
Shiraz is the capital of Fars Province and home to the ruins of Persepolis, a pre-Islamic city. Several Persian poets are buried there.
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company