Sunday, February 18, 2007

Claims and Counterclaims

It's easy to make claims and "assessments". Proving them is a whole different matter.

Iran jumps on the "my chosen enemy is arming my immediate enemy" bandwagon:
Explosive devices and arsenals used in a terrorist attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan on Wednesday came from the United States, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday. Relevant documents, photographs and film footage, which show that the explosives and arsenals used in the attack were American, would soon be made public, an "informed source" was quoted as saying.
The source further pointed out that Jundallah, a shadowy Sunni militant group, had several plots for assassinating Sunni and tribal leaders to sow discord and foment conflicts between the Shiite and Sunni citizens in Sistan-Baluchestan province.

On Wednesday morning, an explosive-laden car exploded in Zahedan as a bus, belonging to ground forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, passed by, killing at least 11 people and injuring 31 others. Jundallah has reportedly claimed responsibility for the Wednesday attack. Iran has blamed the group for past killings in the area bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.

So far a total of 65 suspects in addition to the three people responsible for the bomb attack have been arrested, the official IRNA news agency reported Thursday, quoting Brigadier General Mohammad Gaffari, a senior police officer in Sistan-Baluchestan province. Jundallah also claimed responsibility for a second bombing on Friday in Zahedan, which caused no casualties.

And so does Turkey:
Turkey's army chief has accused the two main Kurdish factions in neighbouring northern Iraq of supporting Turkish Kurd rebels.And he has raised objections to any moves by Ankara to seek dialogue with them, it said.

His comments drew a veiled rebuke by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, signalling possible disagreements between the government and the army on how to combat the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Referring to the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which run an autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said they were giving "full support" to the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by both Turkey and the United States.

"They are the biggest supporter of the PKK at the moment... They (the rebels) also take C-4 explosives from them," Buyukanit was quoted by the Anatolia news agency, as telling Turkish reporters in Washington after talks with US officials on Saturday.

Turkey has grown increasingly impatient with US and Iraqi reluctance to crack down on PKK bases in northern Iraq, where the rebels have long taken refuge, and has threatened a cross-border operation to pursue the rebels. Ankara charges that the militants use northern Iraq as a training ground, enjoy unrestricted movement in the region and are able to obtain arms and explosives there for attacks across the border.

Buyukanit also charged that Iraqis provided no security on their side of the mountainous frontier, giving the PKK a free hand in its operations.

"There are no Iraqi security forces tasked with guarding the other side of the border. The Iraqi side has been handed over to the PKK... This is unacceptable," Anatolia quoted him as saying. "If the PKK is taking advantage of that to harm our people, it becomes compulsory for us to say that it is a necessity for Turkey to take measures," he said.
Update The Iranian FARS news agency has a report and photo of what it says is US equipment seized from militants responsible for recent attacks in Iran. I've a quick look at the "evidence" here.

No comments: