The armed struggle in the Eastern parts of Iran entered a new phase when the first suicide mission was carried out in a military base in Sarawan, Baluchistan, on 29 December 08

Reza Hossein Borr

London, 1 January 2008--The armed struggle in the Eastern parts of Iran entered a new phase when the first suicide mission was carried out in a military base in Sarawan, Baluchistan, on 29 December 08. Sarawan is 270 km away from Zahedan, the capital of Baluchistan. The strength of explosion was so intensive that the people within 6 km of the army base felt that there has been a huge earthquake.

The mission was carried out at 7.30 in the morning at the local time when the joint ceremony of all military and security forces was arranged to hear the weekly speeches of the representative of the supreme leader. This is the most important weekly meeting of all security forces. It is intended to brainwash the members of security forces, give them new instructions and prepare them for military operation throughout the region.

More than 800 personnel from Fatah Brigade, Mersad Brigade and Rasoul Akram Brigade used to participate in the ceremonies. These brigades are the internal versions of Alqods Corp, whose mission is to operate internationally. All of the personnel are highly trained. They are professional commandos. All of them are Shia and all of them have come from other provinces of Iran. The six top clerics of the city of Sarawan also used to participate in the ceremonies. According to the latest news, 205 officers and officials including Colonel Rasouli have been killed and hundreds of them have been seriously injured. The buildings around the base belonged to the same security forces. The other residents of Sarawan were kept far away from this inclusive, well-built, well-secured location. It was like a beautiful small city in a run-down city.

The Peoples Resistance Movement of Iran, Jondollah, took the responsibility for this event and claimed 150 officers have been killed. Different official government media reported different numbers of casualty. The Iranian ambassador in Pakistan claimed that 45 security guards have been killed. The government claims that two cars packed with explosives broke the chain at the entrance of the military base and moved into the crowd and exploded the car. The Jondollah claimed that only one car was used in these operations. They elaborated that 1000 KG of C4 explosives which had the power of 2000 kilos of TNT were used in this mission. The Jondollah claimed that they have taken video films and pictures from the site of explosion that will be published on due course.

The Jondollah threatened that similar missions will be carried out in the central parts of Iran if the Islamic Republic of Iran does not stop the arbitrary arrest, torture, hanging and the massacre of Baluch people. It must be said that the government arrets dozens of people in Baluchistan on fabricated charges on a daily basis. Baluchistan Human Rights Watch reported that 165 Baluch have been arrested by in the last four days. The same organization claimed that 32 Baluch have been killed in 30 days before Christmas.

The Jondollah announced in a statement that that this mission was carried out in retaliation for the destruction of Faiza Abad Mosque and the religious school with its dormitory in Zabol, Baluchistan few months ago. Some of the teachers of the school were arrested after the destruction of the school for issuing statements in which they protested against the destruction of the school. Instead of punishing those who were responsible for this provocative action, the government arrested dozens of political activists in Baluchistan.

The armed struggle in Baluchistan is moving to a very serious stage for the following reasons:

1. The Jondollah has access to very dangerous explosives which did not have access before. The access to this source of explosion was expected in Baluchistan where Baluch people live in the three countries of Iran Pakistan and Afghanistan. Helmand, the hotbed of war on the in Afghanistan, between Nato forces and Taleban is a part of Afghani Baluchistan which is populated by Pashtuns and Baluch communities. Different arms and explosives can be openly and easily found in areas which are dominated by Taleban in the markets for sale.

2. The Jondollah is strong enough to have the capability of transporting these dangerous explosives from long-distance to different cities of Baluchistan. There are checkpoints on different roads between different cities of Baluchistan. In addition to different checkpoints, the mobile forces check every car that moves between different cities in Baluchistan and this is one of the main problems in the province. During the searches that are made by the security forces, innocent people become subject of disrespect, assault and insult. Baloch women have been searched disrespectfully for the first time in the history of Baluchistan by security forces. It has been a tradition that disrespecting women has been strongly prohibited in Baluchistan and surrounding areas. The security forces have broken this tradition which has caused a lot of resentment in the province.

3. Suicide activities have not been carried out in Baluchistan before. This was the first suicide mission in the province. Suicide bombing is not compatible with Baluchistan's values. The Baluch people have always fought in the conventional ways but it seems that the seriousness of armed struggle has reached a point of no return. And there are a lot of volunteers; especially if the Islamic Republic of Iran tries to stir a Shia-Sunni Civil War. In that case, a large number of Moslem volunteers from different countries will join the Sunnis of Iran. Taleban and Alqaedah will turn against the Islamic Republic Iran; the Sunni neighbours of Iran would be the centres of thousands of religious Sunni fighters which have a grudge against Shias. The Shias which are in minority in all other Moslem countries will be attacked by the majority Sunnis.

4. The person who carried out this mission in Sarawan was the younger brother of Abdul Malik Rigi, the leader of Jondollah. Abdul Ghafoor was a handsome young man that was chosen to carry out this mission as a model for the rest of the members of the organization.

5. The Islamic Republic of Iran seems more vulnerable than it claims. The success of this mission proves that the government has no control over a large part of Baluchistan and the Eastern part of Iran. It also proves that in spite of exaggerated claims on behalf of the government, it is possible to strike the sensitive locations of military and security forces.

6. The success of this mission also proves that armed struggle is very popular in Baluchistan and the movement is supported by the Baluch people. The atrocities of the government in Baluchistan and Sunni areas of Iran are so excessive that the Baluch and the Sunnis in these areas have become prepared for any kind of confrontation with the government.

7. The provocative activities of the governments have increased tensions in the region. The government announced just yesterday that hundreds of Shia missionaries have been dispatched to different parts of Baluchistan for converting the Sunnis forcefully to Shiism. Such an action in the present circumstances has added salt to the wounds of the Baluch people. The government has tried in the last 30 years to force the Baluch and Sunnis of Iran to convert to Shiism but they had very limited success in so doing. However, these attempts have seriously increased the hatred against the Shia governments of Iran.

The Jondollah of Iran claimed that all its members have been born after the revolution, inside the Islamic culture of Iran. This organization believes that the culture of violence has been used by the Iranian governments to suppress civil campaigns, the workers and women's campaigns for their legal rights, the writers and journalists' campaigns for freedom of expression and the endeavours of the religious minorities for preserving their identities and religious sites. A governments that is using the culture of violence to suppress its opponents, is creating a culture of violence for the opponents to respond to the government. The culture of violence is the product of the Islamic Republic of Iran. When this government ceases the culture of violence against its opponent, the opponents will also cease to respond through the culture of violence that the regime has created.

The Islamic Republic of Iran issued a directive by which the publication of the news of the Sarawan event was prohibited. All sites that had any connection with the Iranian regime removed the news of the event. The government wants to demonstrate that it was a minor event which did not worth covering by the news programmes of different radios, TVs, newspapers and Internet sites. In fact this was a huge explosion which is only comparable to the one that was organised in the headquarters of the Islamic Republican Party that killed more than one hundred top ranking officials of the government at the beginning of the Islamic regime.

The sound of explosion was heard more than six kilometres away. It shook the earth 7 km away like an earthquake. The buildings of the base were completely destroyed. The windows of the buildings were shattered and walls were cracked 6 km away. In such powerful explosion among a crowd of more than 800 army personnel, the casualties must be very high. That was the reason that the news of the event was killed immediately. Those who have witnessed the scene claimed that there was no any chance of survival of anybody who was in the building or among the crowd of morning ceremonies.

There is no doubt that Islamic Republic of Iran will increase its oppression of the Baluch people. So far when ever the oppression has been increased in Baluchistan, armed struggle also has been increased.

The Iranian regime will not win the war against its own people.