Bombing strikes ceremony in Iran 'killing' dozens

A suicide attack killed at least 38 Shiite Muslims and wounded many more at a highly symbolic and emotionally charged mourning ceremony near a mosque in southeastern Iran on Wednesday, the official IRNA news agency said.

One bomber was killed when he detonated a belt of explosives outside the Imam Hussein Mosque in the city of Chabahar near the border with Pakistan, news reports said, and two others were arrested after their explosives apparently failed to go off.

According to the New York Times, the bombing coincided with the mourning period leading up to Ashura, which commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Islam's prophet Muhammad in the 7th century.

The mourning period is marked in many countries including Iraq and Pakistan where there have been attacks on Shiite Muslims during one of the most important ceremonies of their religious calendar.

Chabahar is one of the largest cities in the province of Sistan-Baluchestan which has a largely ethnic Baluch population who are Sunni Moslems.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The bombing seemed to underscore the continuing threat of religious and ethnic violence in Iran, unrelated to political upheavals since the June 2009 elections.

Last July, a Sunni militant group in southeastern Iran whose leader had been executed by Iranian authorities claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest terrorist attacks Iran has seen in years: a double suicide bombing outside a mosque that killed 26 people and wounded 300.

The victims included members of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, officials said, which the militant group Jundallah has singled out repeatedly in the past.