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Iran accuses Israel, U.S., Britain of Bombings and Plane Crashes
By Nassar Karimi
AP
Friday, Jan 27, 2006
An Iranian worker, cleans and searches for ducuments at the Saman Bank in the city of Ahvaz, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006, where a bomb exploded, Tuesday .
The death toll in a pair of bombings on Tuesday rose to nine dead with more than 46 wounded in Ahvaz, a city in southwestern Iran with a history of violence involving members of Iran's Arab minority, Iranian state media reported. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran's president on Wednesday blamed "the occupiers of Iraq" - inferring the United States and Britain - for two bombings that killed at least nine people in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
The foreign minister said the bombers were supported by the British military, which is based in southern Iraq. Ahvaz has a history of violence involving members of Iran's Arab minority.
State television said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a decree ordering his foreign minister and intelligence minister to investigate the possibility that "foreign hands" were responsible for Tuesday's blasts inside a bank and outside a state environmental agency building. Forty-six people were wounded, the official Islamic Republic News Agency has reported. "Traces of the occupiers of Iraq is evident in the Ahvaz events. They should take responsibility in this regard," state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. The blasts occurred in the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq. Ahmadinejad and his entire Cabinet had been expected to visit Ahvaz on the day of the bombings to address local issues, but the president canceled the visit. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference Wednesday that the bombs were planted by people "who have taken souvenir pictures with British officials in London, while enjoying the intelligence facilities and the support of the British military commander in Basra," southern Iraq. Iran repeatedly has accused Britain of provoking unrest in the region, near where 8,500 British soldiers are based in Iraq. Neither the president nor Mottaki gave any evidence to support their claims of U.S. or British involvement. On Tuesday, Iran's Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said the attacks in Ahvaz were foreign-inspired and related to last year's bombings in the same city. In October, Iran blamed Britain for two blasts at an Ahvaz shopping mall that killed six people and wounded dozens. Tehran also blamed June bombings that killed at least eight people on Iranian Arab extremists with ties to foreign governments, including British intelligence. Britain has denied any connection to the Khuzestan unrest. Tensions between the two countries have flared recently over Britain's opposition to Iran's resumption of nuclear activities. The United States and its European allies suspect Iran has ambitions to produce nuclear weapons, and Britain supports moves to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program is for generating electricity. Britain also has accused Tehran of allowing Iraqi insurgents to receive explosives technology that has been used to attack British soldiers. Iran denies those allegations. Arabs make up less than 3 percent of Iran's population, and most live in Khuzestan. In April, residents of Ahvaz rioted for two days after Arab separatists circulated reports the government planned to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the province. The government denied the claim. © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.crisscross.com/world/news/17958Last update - 21:14 26/01/2006
Iran accuses U.S., Britain and Israel of role in 2 plane crashes
By The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Iran said Thursday it had information that the United States, Britain and Israel had a role in two deadly military plane crashes in the last two months.
It was the latest accusation by Tehran against the West in their sharpening confrontation. A day earlier, Iran blamed the United States and Britain for two bombings this week that killed at least nine people in southwestern Iran.
"The information we have says that the U.S, Britain and Israel's intelligence agents intended to create insecurity in Iran," Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi told reporters on the sidelines of a police seminar. "Even my evaluation says that the crash of our C-130 and Falcon planes was done by their design, or maybe electronic interference."
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Scores die in Iranian air crash
The building was engulfed in flames after the crash
Crash aftermath A military transport plane has crashed on the outskirts of the Iranian capital Tehran, killing at least 128 people.
The plane was attempting an emergency landing at Mehrabad airport and came down in a residential district, hitting a 10-storey apartment building.
The impact set off a big explosion, setting fire to the building.
Iranian state-run radio said all 94 passengers and crew on board the C-130 plane, and 34 people on the ground, were killed.
The aircraft had just taken off when the pilot reported an emergency and turned back, before losing control of the aircraft.
The fuel tanks were almost full so there was a large blast on impact with the base of an apartment block in a compound housing airport staff in the Yaftabad district.
"I saw the aeroplane. There was smoke coming out of one engine. It went into the ground very fast, very close to the building," said 30-year-old Mohammad Rasooli, a local resident.
"There was a huge explosion which engulfed the housing block."
Child victims
Most of the passengers on board the plane were journalists and photographers from Iranian news agencies on their way to cover military manoeuvres on the southern coast. Nearly 40 employees of state-run television died.
The building remained standing but is a scorched shell.
Officials said several children, at home because schools were closed because of a smog alert in the capital, were among those who died in the apartment block.
Crash in pictures
Feb 04: Iranian plane crashes near Sharjah airport in UAE, killing 43 people"Most of the victims on the ground are women and children who were at home," Lieutenant Nasser Sedigh-Nia, who witnessed the crash, told AFP news agency.
An interior ministry spokesman said some of those killed on the ground had been in their cars, whose burnt-out shells littered the crash site.
Scores of people were taken to hospitals suffering from burns and the effects of smoke.
Scuffles broke out as police cordoned off the crash site, trying to keep hundreds of anxious residents from pushing past them.
And journalists at the site were beaten and had their tapes confiscated by the security forces.
The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says the Iranian army has denied rumours that the flight crew was aware there were technical problems with the plane.
Feb 03: Military transport aircraft crashes in southern Iran, killing 302 people
Dec 02: Commuter plane carrying aerospace experts crashes in Iran, killing 46 people
Feb 02: Tu-154 operated by Iran Air crashes in mountains in west of Iran, killing 117 people
March 97: 80 die when a military plane crashes in north-east Iran
Feb 93: Tu-154 crashes into a military plane near Tehran, killing 132
It was said to have nearly crashed a week ago, and its engines had to be switched on and off five times before it could take off on its final flight.
In a message carried by state media, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "I learned of the catastrophe and the fact that members of the press have been martyred.
"I offer my condolences to the supreme leader and to the families of the victims".
The Iranian air force is believed to have about 15 ageing US-made C-130s in operation, dating back to before the 1979 Islamic revolution and the US boycott of Iran.
In 2003, an Iranian Ilyushin-76 troop carrier crashed in south-east Iran killing all 276 Revolutionary Guard soldiers and crew aboard.
Officials blame the high frequency of crashes on a lack of aviation spare parts due to US sanctions.
Mehrabad is the oldest airport in Tehran and handles both domestic and military flights.
When it was built more than 60 years ago it was located outside the capital, but with the growth of Tehran's urban sprawl the airport has become surrounded by residential areas.
Heavy-lift transport aircraft built by Lockheed Martin, known as the Hercules in the UK
Iran has some 15 C-130 E and H types dating from the mid-1970s
A modern US variant is the AC-130 - a heavily armed gunship version - used in Iraq and Afghanistan
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First flew: 1956
Max. take off weight: 69,750kg |
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Engines: 4 Allison turboprops
Range: 2,356 miles |
Source: FAS/GlobalSecurity