The bomber targeted a bus transporting military personnel on the Khash–Zahedan road in Sistan and Baluchestan province, near the border with Pakistan. The area is a refuge for militant separatist groups and drug smugglers. The bomber detonated a car full of explosives near the bus, killing 27 Revolutionary Guards and injuring 13. The soldiers were coming back to their cities after carrying out the border mission by the bus. Jaish al-Adl, a group connected to Al-Qaeda and involved in some of the recent terrorist activities in southeast Iran took responsibility for the suicide bombing. In October 2018, 11 Iranian border Guards were kidnapped by the group, only 5 of them were released. The Senior Revolutionary Guards commander of Iran claimed that the suicide bomber was a Pakistani national and one other member of the militant cell that planned the attack was also Pakistani. Furthermore, he claimed that three other members of militant cells were Iranian nationals from Sistan and Baluchestan. Out of those three Iranians, two were arrested.
Reactions
, Supreme Leader of Iran declared that "It is evidently certain that the perpetrators of this crime are connected to the intelligence services of some of the countries inside as well as outside the region". Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani vowed revenge against Jaish Al-Adl. Iran's Deputy Foreign MinisterAbbas Araghchi met with India's External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj and referring to both the 2019 Khash–Zahedan suicide bombing and the 2019 Pulwama attack, he stated: "Iran and India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough!"
Against Pkistan
Iranian Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari asked Pakistan to conduct crack down against armed group Jaish al-Adl before Tehran "takes it revenge." Pakistan offered Iran cooperation in investigating the bombing, and expressed sympathy for the victims of the attack. A Pakistani delegation was due to travel to Iran. Bahram Qassemi, Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman declared "Tehran will avenge the attack" and said it would not tolerate what it saw as Pakistan's "inability to stop cross-border attacks in Iran". Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker blamed Pakistan for the attack, saying that the attack was "planned and carried out from inside Pakistan". Muhammad Beghari, the military commander of Iran, told Pakistan to "either confront the terrorist groups or allow Iranian forces in".
Mourning
The mourning for the victims was held one day after the attack in Isfahan, Iran. The bodies of the victims were flown to Isfahan where press representatives and the affected families were waiting. The mourning ceremony was widely covered by media in Iran and the interview with families of the victims went viral in Iranian social media.
