Iran executes man convicted of bombing Revolutionary Guards at site of attack


the associated press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.21.2007
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TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran executed a defendant by hanging after a court convicted
him of a bombing last week that killed 11 members of the elite Revolutionary
Guards, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Nasrollah Shanbe Zehi was executed at the site of the attack in Zahedan,
capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province in southeastern Iran, the report
said. The sentence was carried out a day after a revolutionary court
convicted him of the bombing.

A car loaded with explosives blew up Wednesday near a bus carrying members
of the elite military corps, killing 11 and wounding 31. Zehi was arrested a
few hours after the bombing.
A Sunni militant group which some believe is linked to al-Qaida claimed
responsibility. Jundallah, or God's Brigade, has also been blamed for past
attacks on Iranian troops.

IRNA quoted an unnamed official as saying on Friday that Zehi confessed that
the attacks were part of U.S. plans to provoke ethnic and religious violence
in Iran.

The report said Zehi was also convicted of separate offenses including the
deaths of four policemen and two civilians and a bank robbery.

The accusations come amid mounting tensions between Tehran and Washington
over allegations of Iranian involvement in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq,
and over Iran's nuclear activities.
Jundallah has waged a low-level insurgency in southeastern Iran. In
December, Jundallah claimed responsibility for kidnapping seven Iranian
soldiers, but released them apparently after negotiations through tribal
mediators.

In March 2006, gunmen dressed as security forces killed 21 people on a
highway outside Zahedan in an attack authorities blamed on "rebels," though
Jundallah was never specifically named.



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