Iran finds cause with India on cross-border terror

Iran found cause with India on cross-border terror and alleged that the suicide bomber who killed 27 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard a day before Pulwama attack was a Pakistani.

Two other members of the cell behind the attack in the country's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Pakistan, were also Pakistani nationals, local media reported Brigadier-General Mohammad Pakpour as saying on Tuesday.

Pakpour identified the attacker as Hafiz Mohammad Ali, who Iranian officials said also wounded 13 other members of the Revolutionary Guard in the suicide car bomb attack on February 13.


The general said an ongoing probe had made headway after the model of the explosives-packed car that detonated next to a bus carrying the soldiers was identified.

"Two days ago, the first clue, a woman, was identified and arrested, and through this woman, we reached others," Pakpour told reporters at a ceremony to commemorate the victims.

Three Iranians from the Sistan-Baluchestan province were also part of the cell and two of them have been arrested, according to Pakpour.

The Sunni group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which has links with LeT and Pak establishment, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi told Iran's state-run IRNA news agency on Tuesday the Islamic Republic faced threats from "a number of hostile intelligence services".

"[They] have worked together to challenge the security of the Islamic Republic," Alavi said.