By AP, JPOST.COM STAFFAhmadinejad big face 248.88(photo credit: )
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Sunday to strike back at those behind a suicide bombing that killed five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard and at least 37 others, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"The criminals will soon get the response for their anti-human crimes," IRNA quoted him as saying. Ahmadinejad also accused unspecified foreigners of involvement.
The official IRNA news agency said the dead included the deputy commander of the Guard's ground force, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief provincial Guard commander for the area, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. The other dead were Guard members or local tribal leaders. More than two dozen others were wounded, state radio reported.
Earlier, Iran accused the US and Britain of being behind Sunday morning's attack.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States condemned what he called an "act of terrorism." Reports of alleged US involvement are "completely false," he said.
Official television channels in Teheran quoted a security official as saying that the British government was directly involved in the attack, having organized the bombing, provided equipment and recruited terrorists.
Press TV had earlier said that the US was involved, as part of its efforts to topple the Iranian regime.
"It was a terror attack planned long ago by people linked to the US and other countries that want to destroy Iran's central government," said Iran's state television network.
The Revolutionary Guard itself blamed Sunday morning's attack on what it called the "global arrogance," a reference to the United States.
"The global arrogance, with the provocation of its local mercenaries, targeted the meeting of the Guard with local tribal leaders," said a Guard statement read out on state TV.
Iranian officials have often raised concerns that Washington might try to incite members of Iran's many ethnic and religious minorities against the Shi'ite-led government, which is dominated by ethnic Persians.
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