TEHRAN: Gunmen attacked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign centre in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Friday, a day after a deadly mosque bombing in the city blamed on Washington. State-run news agency said gunmen on motorbikes opened fire at the centre, wounding three people including a child who needed surgery for stomach wounds.The early evening attack came a day after a suicide bomber killed 25 people and wounded 125 others in an attack on a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, restive capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sistan-Baluchestan deputy governor Jalal Sayah told the news agency that the bombers of the Shiite Amir al-Momenin mosque were "hired by America and the agents of the arrogance" -- a reference to Washington. But Washington rejected the claim. "We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "We do not sponsor any form of terrorism in Iran and we continue to work with the international community to try to prevent any attacks against innocent civilians anywhere," he said. "We note with concern a recent trend of bombings of Shiite mosques in Iraq and Pakistan as well as in Iran and strongly condemn any kind of sectarian driven violence," Kelly said.
TEHRAN: Gunmen attacked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign centre in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Friday, a day after a deadly mosque bombing in the city blamed on Washington. State-run news agency said gunmen on motorbikes opened fire at the centre, wounding three people including a child who needed surgery for stomach wounds.The early evening attack came a day after a suicide bomber killed 25 people and wounded 125 others in an attack on a Shiite mosque in Zahedan, restive capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sistan-Baluchestan deputy governor Jalal Sayah told the news agency that the bombers of the Shiite Amir al-Momenin mosque were "hired by America and the agents of the arrogance" -- a reference to Washington. But Washington rejected the claim. "We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. "We do not sponsor any form of terrorism in Iran and we continue to work with the international community to try to prevent any attacks against innocent civilians anywhere," he said. "We note with concern a recent trend of bombings of Shiite mosques in Iraq and Pakistan as well as in Iran and strongly condemn any kind of sectarian driven violence," Kelly said.
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