Ahmadinejad slams Mahabad bombing

Iran’s president has condemned Wednesday’s terrorist attack in northwestern Iranian city of Mahabad, expressing sympathy for the 12 people killed and 80 wounded in the incident.

“The inhumane and brutal crimes of traitors of the global arrogance against the defenseless civilians of Mahabad have once again exposed the true face of the so-called defendants of freedom and human rights,” President Ahmadinejad said in his message of condolences to the relatives of the victims of the terror attack.

The Iranian chief executive described the terrorist act as an “unequivocal evidence of the enemy’s desperation.”

He has tasked the Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar to launch a quick probe into the terrorist act, president’s senior advisor Mojstaba Hashemi Samereh said on Thursday.

The blast took place during a military parade in West Azarbaijan Province, marking the anniversary of Iraq’s 1980 invasion of Iran and honoring the country’s eight-year ‘sacred defense’ driving out the enemy.

According to provincial officials, ten of the bombing victims were women.

The bomb was planted inside a pine tree near the site of the parade. Iranian police say they have arrested two people in connection with the attack.