All fear the Canadian terrorists: (h/t Regime Change)
TORONTO – The Department of Foreign Affairs denied yesterday what it called the “baseless accusations” that Canada was behind a bombing campaign in the Iranian city of Ahwaz that left seven dead.
As a heated war of words continued between Ottawa and Tehran, an Iranian prosecutor was quoted yesterday as saying that Canada had trained and supported bombers who struck the oil-rich city in June.
“These accusations are totally without foundation,” Marie-Christine Lilkoff, a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, said in a written statement. “Canada does not support terrorism in any way in Iran or anywhere else. We have in fact taken a very firm stand against terrorist organizations active against Iran itself.”
She was responding to a news item on an Iranian Web site quoting Seyyed Khalil Akbar, chief prosecutor for Iran’s Khuzekstan province, accusing Canada and Britain of backing those behind the Ahwaz bombings.
“The Khuzestan bombers were in contact with Britain and Canada and were being backed by them,” he was quoted as saying in an address to a gathering of provincial prosecutors.
“The primary individuals responsible for the bombings were Iranian and were supported by foreign forces. They had received training in Britain and Canada and were in contact with these countries via the Internet and mail.”
Several Canadians are known members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, an armed group fighting to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran. Canada placed the group on its list of outlawed terrorist organizations in May.
More on the June bombing at Gateway Pundit:
Five bombs have exploded in Iran killing at least nine people, days before the presidential election. Four blasts targeted public buildings in the south-western city of Ahwaz, killing at least eight people and wounding at least 30.
Hours later, a bomb exploded in the capital, Tehran, killing one person.
Bombings have been rare in Iran since the war with Iraq ended in 1988. No group has claimed responsbility for Sunday’s attacks.
Ahwaz, which is close to the Iraq border, was the focus of unrest between Arabs and Persians in April, when several people were reportedly killed.
It is not clear whether the bombings are connected with the earlier violence.
At least four women were killed in the blasts. A series of bombs detinated in succession. A fourth bomb detinated before police could defuse it injuring one officer:
At least four women were among those killed in the explosions in Ahvaz, capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province. At least two of the explosions were caused by car bombs, witnesses said.
Gholamreza Shariati, deputy provincial governor for security affairs, said the bombers were seeking to undermine public participation in Friday’s presidential elections.
Television pictures showed the blast sites with heavily damaged buildings and blood on the ground. The force of the explosions also damaged cars in the streets. Shariati said 36 people, including eight police officers, were injured.
After the first three blasts, disposal experts tried to defuse a fourth bomb but failed, and it exploded, injuring one officer.
Amir Hossein Motahar, director of security at the Interior Ministry, said one bomb went off in front of the Ahvaz governor’s office and another next to the city’s housing department.
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