| Ahvaz bombings | |
|---|---|
| Part of Arab separatism in Khuzestan | |
| Location | Ahvaz, Iran |
| Date | sporadically from 12 June 2005 to 3 March 2006 |
| Target | various government and public buildings |
Attack type | bombings |
| Deaths | at least 28 |
| Injured | at least 225 |
| Perpetrators | responsibility claimed by the Ahvazi Revolutionary Martyrs' Brigades |
| Motive | Alleged retaliation for suppression of 2005 Ahvaz unrest |
The Ahvaz bombings was a series of bomb explosions, that took place mostly in Ahvaz, Iran in 2005 and 2006, and were blamed on Ahvaz separatist organizations of Arabs. The bombings were linked to the violent '15 April unrest' in Ahvaz, prior to the bombings. Some 28 people were killed and 225 wounded in Ahvaz bombings.
The region of Khuzestan continued suffering from periodical violent disruptions since the suppression of the Sheikh Khazal rebellion in 1925.
In 2005, a wide scale unrest broke out in Ahvaz and the surrounding towns. [1] [2] The unrest erupted on 15 April 2005, and lasted for 4 days. Initially, the Iranian Interior Ministry stated that only one person had been killed, however an official at a hospital in Ahvaz said that between 15 and 20 mortal casualties. [1]
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 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 arrest at least 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]
At least 19 Arab Iranian were executed since the 2005 Ahvaz unrest and the consequent bombings. In April 2011, another wave of protests erupted across the Khuzestan province, resulting in a dozen killed and scores injured and arrested.
The Iranian government has pointed the blame for the bomb attacks on a number of groups and foreign governments. The government initially blamed the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK) and the separatist Ahwazi Arab Peoples Democratic Popular Front (ADPF). Both groups denied responsibility. At least three Arab groups claimed responsibility for the June bombings, including the Canada-based Party of the Ahwaz Arab Renaissance Party (AARP) (aka Hizba al-Nahdah al-Arabi al-Ahwazi) Archived 29 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine . Sabah al-Musawi of AARP - which was created in Damascus by the Syrian Ba'ath Party - also appeared to justify the killing of civilians, stating: "These people came from outside Ahvaz. These are settlers.... They came to Ahvaz and they must bear the consequences. The regime must bear its responsibilities towards the people it brought as settlers to Ahwaz." The AARP had claimed responsibility for an attack on the Abadan-Ma'shuur pipeline in May 2005.
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS) spokesman Nasser Bani-Assad dismissed the claims of responsibility by various foreign-based separatist groups, alleging that they did not have the ability to carry out an attack and were seeking publicity and notoriety. In a statement on the BAFS website, Bani-Assad said:
Presidential candidate Mostafa Moeen also suggested that those responsible for the Ahvaz attacks were also linked to similar attacks in Tehran and Zahedan. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Moeen suggested that the violence could have been aimed at encouraging people to vote for a hardline militarist candidate. When asked by the Guardian whether the attacks had the government's approval, he said: "I do not consider it improbable."
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:
The British Embassy in Tehran denied any responsibility in a statement released after the attacks:
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."
Khuzestan province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Located in the southwest of the country, the province borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf, covering an area of 63,238 square kilometres (24,416 sq mi). Its capital is the city of Ahvaz. Since 2014, it has been part of Iran's Region 4.
Ahvaz is a city in the Central District of Ahvaz County, Khuzestan province, Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is home to Persians, Arabs, Bakhtiaris, Dezfulis, Shushtaris, and others. Languages spoken in the area include Persian, Arabic, Luri and dialects such as Bakhtiari, Dezfuli and Shushtari.
This article focuses on the status of ethnic minorities in contemporary Iran.
Khuzestan province is a petroleum-rich, ethnically-diverse province in southwestern Iran. Oil fields in the province include Ahvaz Field, Marun, Aghajari, Karanj, Shadegan and Mansouri. Amnesty International has voiced human-rights concerns about Khuzestan's Arab population, and United Nations special rapporteur Miloon Kothari has also drawn attention to Arab displacement and poverty among the Laks.
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The Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz is an Arab nationalist and separatist insurgent group which advocates the secession of an area in southern Iran including all of Khuzestan Province and Bushehr Province and parts of Ilam Province, Hormozgan Province, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province and Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province from Iran and the establishment of an Arab state, a goal which it is attempting to achieve by waging a direct and violent conflict against Iran. The claimed area is shown in the group's logo as well.
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