2005–06 Ahvaz bombings

The bombs in Ahvaz exploded over a two-hour period, four bombs have exploded, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 87 others, days before the presidential election. One of the bombs exploded outside the governor-general's headquarters. Two went off near government offices and a fourth exploded near the home of a local state television executive. Two hours later, a bomb exploded in the capital Tehran, killing two people. Three other bombs were defused.[3] According to the LA Times, the provincial governor of Khuzestan disclosed that several of the victims were women and children.[4] Iran's Interior Ministry claimed that the bombings were meant to strike fear into Iranians in order to stop them from voting, according to the New York Times.[5]

"These terrorists have been trained under the umbrella of the Americans in Iraq," The Iranian top national security official Ali Agha Mohammadi said. The The Arab People's Democratic Front, and The Armed Renaissance Group of Ahvaz all claimed responsibility for the bombings.[6]

Two bomb blasts hit a shopping center, killing at least six people and injuring up to 100. The attacks, a few minutes apart, took place near an area attacked by several bombs in June. The bombs were planted in rubbish bins. The blasts occurred shortly before dusk as shoppers crowded to buy food for the evening meal that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.[7] According to Aljazeera, two Arab separatists accused of carrying out the attack, were executed by hanging.[8]

At least nine people were killed and 48 injured in two blasts. One bomb had exploded in the Kianpars area, inside the Saman Bank, and had killed at least 9 people and wounded 45 others; the second explosion took place on Golestan Road next to the Natural Resources Department, a state environmental agency, causing injuries but no deaths. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been due to give a speech at a religious centre nearby, but the visit had been cancelled due to bad weather. Mr Ahmadinejad's media chief said he did not believe the bombs were linked to the planned visit, because there had been a series of similar blasts last year.[9][10]

"Our heroes... in the military wing of The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz attacked and destroyed the dens of the occupying enemy" a statement posted on an Arab separatist organisation website said.[11]

However, Iranian Foreign Minister has blamed the UK of working together with the attackers responsible for the death of eight people in Ahvaz, according to BBC.[12] Iranian authorities arrests at leasts 50 suspects for the bombings.[13]

Two bombs exploded in the Iranian cities of Dezful and Abadan. In both cities, the devices were planted in the governor's offices. Three injuries were reported.[14] According to ABC news, the twin bombs did affect the Iranian oil refinery in Abadan.[15]

A bomb exploded hours after two men were hanged for a bomb blast.[16] The percussion bomb shattered the windows of a building in the Kianpars area on Thursday evening, but no casualties were reported.[17]

The oil-rich Khuzestan province, which is home to about two million ethnic Arabs, has been rocked by a wave of unrest in April 2005. Iran accused British army forces across the border in southern Iraq of co-operating with bombers who carried out January's attacks in Ahvaz. The UK Foreign Office rejected the allegation.

In the months after the June 2005 attacks, government officials and the pro-government media alleged that the UK, US, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the Shell Oil Company all had a role in the bombings, but none published any conclusive evidence. Despite claiming to have arrested those responsible for the attacks, no-one has been charged or put on trial.

Following the October attacks, the head of the judiciary for Khuzestan province, Sayyed Khalil Akbar al-Sadat, blamed "British spies," while the conservative Kayhan newspaper claimed the terrorists were "British soldiers." Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Hossein Mousapour told state-run Mehr news agency:

Most probably those involved in the explosion were British agents who were involved in the previous incidents in Ahvaz and Khuzestan.

The British Embassy in Tehran denied any responsibility in a statement released after the attacks:

There has been speculation in the past about alleged British involvement in Khuzestan. We reject these allegations. Any linkage between the British Government and these terrorist outrages is completely without foundation.

Various officials repeated the claim of British involvement, repeating that they had reliable intelligence and confessions from those arrested after the attacks. However, no-one has been tried in connection to the attacks. Senior members of the Bawi (Bavi) tribe were arrested and two were sentenced to death, but it is not known whether this is in connection with the attacks.

U.S. agents have allegedly been working in Iran with anti-government groups. According to Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker: "[T]eams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups."