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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Iranian officials claimed Monday they had evidence of American and British involvement in the country’s worst suicide bombing attacks in years, raising tensions as Iran meets with Western nations for another round of delicate talks on its nuclear program.At least five commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of other people were left dead and wounded on Sunday in two bombings in the restive southeast along Iran’s frontier with Pakistan, according to Iranian state news agencies.
The coordinated strike, one of the largest against the Guards in the region, appeared to mark an escalation in hostilities between Iran’s leadership and the Baluchi ethnic minority. Iranian officials accused foreign enemies of supporting the insurgents, singling out the intelligence agencies of United States, Britain and Pakistan.The Baluchi insurgent group Jundallah — or Soldiers of God — took responsibility for the bombings, which included a suicide attack on a community meeting led by Revolutionary Guards and a roadside attack on a car full of Guards, both in the area of the city of Pishin.Official news reports late Sunday said that 29 people had been killed, including several tribal leaders, and 28 wounded. The reports did not specify how many casualties were guards and how many civilians. Early Monday, Iranian state television raised the toll to 42 people, including 37 civilians, news agencies reported. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised “that those who committed such criminal and inhuman acts will receive their response soon,” the state-run Press TV reported.he United States condemned the bombings and denied any connection with them. “We condemn this act of terrorism and mourn the loss of innocent lives,” said Ian C. Kelly, a State Department spokesman. “Reports of alleged U.S. involvement are completely false.”
The British government rejects “in the strongest terms” allegations that it aided rebels, a foreign office spokesperson told Reuters Monday.
The bombers struck early Sunday as the Guards prepared to bring regional Shiite and Sunni leaders together for a conference in Pishin to try to improve relations among the different communities, according to the Iranian news reports. Jundallah, which says it is fighting for greater autonomy for Baluchis in Iran and Pakistan, bombed a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan, in May, killing 25 people. Jundallah rebels abducted and killed 16 Iranian soldiers late last year, and bombed a bus carrying Guards members in 2007, killing 11.Iranian officials are due to meet Monday in Vienna with officials of several countries to discuss an accord to ship uranium to Russia for enrichment, part of an effort by the West to try to halt Iran’s nuclear program.