AS THE death toll from the terrorist bomb attacks in Iran on Sunday rose to ten, a senior official in Tehran blamed Baathist groups loyal to the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq for the explosions.

Ali Agha Mohammadi, spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council, Iran’s top security decision-making body, said that the perpetrators of the Ahvaz bombings had infiltrated Iran from Basra, in southern Iraq.

Eight people died and nearly a hundred were wounded after four bombs exploded in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province in southwest Iran. The targets were government buildings and officials. Hours later two small bombs detonated in Tehran, killing one person and injuring four. One of those injured died yesterday.

Rahim Fazilatpour, Deputy Governor of Ahvaz, said that three Arab organisations had claimed responsibility for the bombings. One was believed to be a little-known group calling itself The Revolutionary Martyr Guards of al-Ahvaz.

Just five days before the presidential elections on Friday, the attacks have disquieted a nation that has not seen similar violence since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. Some observers linked the bombings to recent demonstrations in Ahvaz. In April 250 arrests were made of Arabs protesting against alleged government plans to alter the ethnic balance in Khuzestan province.

The protests were sparked after copies of a letter allegedly signed by Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the Vice-President, circulated in the area. The letter ordered the relocation of nonArabs to Ahvaz to make them the majority population. Mr Abtahi denied writing the letter. Most of Iran’s two million ethnic Arabs live in Khuzestan, which also sits on the bulk of the country’s oil reserves.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the leading candidate in the presidential race, said that the bombs were the work of opponents of the Islamic revolution who aimed to disrupt the election. “They are trying to intimidate the people because they think the people would not participate in the elections,” he told state television. “It is clear that this will backfire.”

Police said that one suspect had been arrested, but did not provide further details.

Iran possesses a diverse ethnic population among its 70 million citizens, with many minorities nursing grievances related to employment discrimination and poor local investment. Kurds and Azeris live in the north west of the country, Turkmens in the north, Baluchis in the south east and Arabs in the south west. About 89 per cent of the population is Shia, and 9 per cent are Sunni Muslims.

The country’s best-known external opposition, the People’s Mujahidin Organisation, denied involvement in the attacks. The group lost what little credibility it enjoyed in Iran after it deployed units alongside Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq war, and is regarded as something of a spent force.

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