Ringleaders behind Iran parade bombing are dead, general says

The ringleaders behind last week's lethal bombing of a military parade in Iran have been killed, a general from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said Sunday, dpa reported.

A dozen people died and over 80 inured when the bomb exploded last Sunday during a military parade in the city of Mahabad.

General Mohammad Pakpour told Fars news agency that the key elements behind the bombing were killed in Mahabad but gave no details on to which groups these elements belonged, or how they died.

The general also claimed that the US and Israeli secret services as well as elements of the former Baath party of Iraq were behind the incident - but did not offer any further details.

Iran has several times accused Israel and the US of being behind bombings in the country, but so far has not produced any evidence.

Although no group hay claimed responsibility for the blast, observers have speculated that as Mahabad has a mainly Kurdish population, militants of the outlawed Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) were behind the incident.

Kurdish rebel groups in Iran have been at odds with the government in Tehran for decades, seeking autonomy in Kurdish-populated provinces and an alliance with Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria.