TEHRAN - A bomb blast at a Shiite mosque in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Thursday killed at least 15 worshippers and wounded 80 others, a top local official told reporters.
The evening explosion struck the Amir al-Momenin mosque in Zahedan, the restive capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, which has a substantial Sunni minority, the official IRNA news agency reported.
“The bomb exploded at the time of evening prayer and killed a number of worshippers,� Ali Mohammad Azad, the governor general of the province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan told reporters.
He said 15 people were killed and the wounded toll had risen to 80. "It was a terrorist attack and the bomb was exploded by a terrorist,£ Azad told reporters, according to IRNA.
Fars news agency reported a higher death toll, saying 20 people were killed.
It said the mosque is the second biggest Shiite mosque in Zahedan and also a "gathering place for revolutionary Shiites."
The agency said no group had so far claimed responsibility for the bombing, and that security and police services were in control of the area.
On February 18, Al-Gadhir mosque in Zahedan was attacked. A bomb apparently carried by a motorcyclist exploded but caused no casualties.
The last major attack in Zahedan was a February 2007 strike by suspected Sunni rebels that killed 13 elite Revolutionary Guards.
Thursday was a public holiday in Iran to mourn the death of Fatima Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed.
The explosion also comes just weeks ahead of Iran’s June 12 presidential election.
Sistan-Baluchestan province has a large ethnic Baluch minority.
In recent years, it has been the scene of a deadly insurgency by Sunni rebels of the Jundullah (Soldiers of God) group which is strongly opposed to predominantly Shiite country’s government.
The province also lies on a major narcotics-smuggling route from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In April 2008, the bombing of a packed mosque in the southern city of Shiraz during evening prayers left 14 people dead.
The strike in Shiraz was the first in decades in Iran’s Persian heartland. The normally placid city is not in a border zone, nor is it home to any significant ethnic or religious minority population.
Iran has in the past blamed US and British agents based in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan for launching attacks on border provinces with significant ethnic minority populations.