Iran Crosses into Iraq to Hit Bombing Suspects

By Nasser Karimi

September 26, 2010

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian forces crossed into neighboring Iraq and killed 30 fighters from a group it says was involved in last week’s bombing of a military parade, state TV reported Sunday.

Gen. Abdolrasoul Mahmoudabadi of the elite Revolutionary Guards said the “terrorists” were killed on Saturday in a clash “beyond the border” and that his forces were still in pursuit of two men who escaped the ambush. …

An explosion during a military parade in the town of Mahabad, in Iran’s northwestern Kurdish region, killed 12 women and children on Wednesday.

Iran has already blamed the attack on Kurdish separatists who have fought Iranian forces in the area for years, but most Kurdish groups condemned the attack and no one has so far claimed responsibility for it.

Iran has also blamed Israel, the U.S. and supporters of Iraq’s previous regime for supporting the Kurdish groups.

The parade was one of several held around the country to mark the 30th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

The city of Mahabad is home to 190,000 people — most of them Kurds and Sunni Muslims. Iran is predominantly Shiite. …

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Related report on this site

Iranian Troops Cross into Iraq (Dec. 18, 2009)

The al-Fakkah oil field near Amara, Iraq, Dec. 8, 2009. On Dec. 18, 2009, Iraq said Iran had seized one oil well in the field. (Photo credit: Atef Hassan / Reuters)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 26, 2009

Obama Demands Access to Nuke Site

Video

Ahmadinejad: Nuclear plant in ‘beginning stages’ (NBC Nightly News, Sept. 25, 2009) — Iranian president insists that Iran’s nuclear plant is in compliance with international rules. NBC’s Ann Curry reports. (01:22)

One year ago today, I reported that the U.S. and its five partners trying to stop Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — planned to tell Tehran that it must provide “unfettered access” to its previously secret Qom uranium enrichment facility within weeks. I also featured my psychological profile and threat assessment of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — September 26, 2008

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari

After the Primary Election: Day 17

Two years ago today, on the 17th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on a skirmish between U.S. and Pakistani ground forces across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and a speech at the United Nations by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in which he told world leaders (in an apparent reference to U.S. cross-border raids) that his country could not allow its territory to “be violated by our friends.”