Iran says 15 guards killed in suicide attack

Fifteen members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards force were among those killed in Sunday's suicide bombing attack in the Islamic Republic's volatile southeast, state radio reported on Tuesday.

Iranian media had previously said six senior commanders were among the 42 people killed in the deadliest such attack in Iran since its 1980-88 war with Iraq, without specifying how many of the others belonged to the force. Civilians, including tribal chiefs, were also among the victims.

"The number of Revolutionary Guards martyred ... in the terrorist incident in Sistan-Baluchestan province is fifteen," state radio said.

Iranian media say a Sunni rebel group, Jundollah (God's soldiers), has claimed responsibility for the bombing. Iran says the group is backed by the United States and Britain. London and Washington have denied involvement.

Security Cou8ncil condemnation

Iran on Monday demanded that the U.N. Security Council strongly condemn Sunday's bomb attack.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran expects that the Security Council react to this terrorist attack by condemning it in the strongest term(s)," Iran's U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, said in a letter to Vietnamese Ambassador Le Luong Minh, the current president of the 15-nation council.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to take all necessary measures to bring this terrorist group to justice," he said in the letter, obtained by Reuters. "We expect the international community, including the neighboring countries, to uphold their international obligations in this respect."

It was not clear if the council would take up the issue.

Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari accused the United States, Britain and Pakistan of sharing responsibility for the bomb attack.

He was quoted by Iran's ISNA news agency as that saying Iranian security officials had documents indicating Jundollah had "direct ties" to U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence.

Khazaee did not point any fingers in his letter, but said, "There are indications that the group enjoys the support of some foreign countries."

Britain and the United States are permanent members of the Security Council, which Iran accuses of taking illegal action against the Islamic Republic to suppress its nuclear program.

Iran's atomic activities are a regular item on the Security Council's agenda. Tehran's nuclear ambitions are also the subject of international talks at the U.N. nuclear watchdog in Vienna this week.

Tehran, which has been hit with three rounds of U.N. sanctions for refusing to suspend sensitive nuclear activities, denies Western allegations it is secretly developing atomic weapons. It says its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful generation of electricity.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to take all necessary measures to bring this terrorist group to justice

Mohammad Khazaee, Iranian ambassador at U.N.