A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of mostly young men outside a police station in Tikrit, Iraq as they were waiting to submit applications for jobs in the security forces 18 January. Raied al-Ani, director of the local hospital, was quoted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution as saying 150 people were wounded in the attack. Many of these were transferred to nearby hospitals because of the limited facilities in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Iran says it accuses the US, Great Britain and Pakistan of involvement in the deadly suicide-bomb attacks in its Sistan-Baluchistan province on Sunday 18 October which killed 42 people, including several senior military commanders of the Revolutionary Guards. Suspicions were aroused because of the detailed intelligence reportedly needed in order to reach their targets. The US and the UK have denied invlovement. Iran has vowed a “crushing” response.
Iran has accused Jundullah, a Sunni radical group, of carrying out the attack, and accuses Pakistan of harbouring the leader of the group. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called his Pakistani counterpart to ask for help in arresting the group’s leaders, who he says are based in Pakistan. The group has carried out attacks in Iran before, and claims to represent the rights of Sunni Muslims in mostly Shiite Iran. BBC, The Times
