Suicide bomb kills 30, injures 55 at Iran mosque (3rd Lead)

Dec 15, 2010, 10:29 GMT

Tehran - Thirty people were killed and 55 injured Wednesday in a suicide bombing at a mosque in Iran's south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the provincial governor said.

The attack occurred at the Iman Hussein mosque in Chabahar city where worshippers were attending the Ashura ceremony, the anniversary of the death of Hussein, the third Shiite imam.

Governor Ali Mohammad Azad told the news network Khabar that all the injured had already been transferred to nearby hospitals.

The governor also said that a second attacker had been killed before he could detonate his explosives.

Ali Batani, the governor of Chabahar city said the second terrorist was arrested he could set off his bomb.

The first terrorist was reportedly killed when the first bomb went off.

Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been a target of terrorist attacks in the past, mainly by the Jundollah group, which claims to be fighting for the rights of Iran's Sunni minority.

The government accuses Jundollah of being involved in drug-trafficking, kidnapping and bombings in Sistan-Baluchistan.

Tehran also accuses the organization of sowing discord between the Shiite majority and the Sunnis.

Jundollah leader Abdolmalek Rigi was hanged in June a Tehran prison.

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