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Iran

Suicide bombing kills dozens at Iran Shia Mosque

A suicide bombing ripped through a mosque in the Iranian city of Chabahar on Wednesday, killing at least 39 people, on the eve of the final day of Ashura. The Sunni Jundullah group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Reuters
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The suicide bomber struck on the main square outside the Imam Hossein mosque in Chabahar, state media reports.

"An individual walked up to some Red Crescent ambulances and blew himself up," Red Crescent official Mahmoud Mozafar told the ILNA news agency.

According to the latest official toll, 38 people were killed and 50 wounded.

A second bomber was also spotted before the attack but his vest failed to detonate, a local official said.

The attack came on the eve of the final day of Ashura, one of the high points of the Shia Muslim calendar when large crowds of worshippers gather in mosques across Iran.

While most Iranians are Shia Muslims, the Sistan-Baluchestan province has a significant Sunni Muslim community and the Sunni rebel group Jundallah has been particularly active in recent years.

Jundallah has claimed several similar attacks in the region.

"It’s not the first time that such explosioins have happened in Sistan-Baluchistan," says correspondent Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran, "but over the past year, these explosions have increased so it shows mounting tensions there. Baluchis are considered ethnic minorites and they claim that they are discriminated against."

Ashura is Shia Islam's biggest mourning ritual commemorating the death of Imam Hossein, the third imam in Shia Islam, who was killed in the battle of Karbala in 680. Iran has the world's largest Shia Muslim population.

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