Abu Dhabi/Dubai: The UAE on Wednesday condemned the suicide blast that targeted a mosque in southeastern Iranian city of Chahbahar, killing 39 people who were observing Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussain.
"The UAE strongly condemns this criminal act which targeted innocent people, and reaffirms its complete solidarity with Iran in the face of such criminal acts," Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, said in a statement to WAM.
He offered condolences to families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
The terrorist attack on Imam Hussain Mosque, which was the bloodiest in the three-year confrontation between the government and a local Sunni militant group, marks a new chapter in the troubled relations between the two sects in the Islamic republic, according to analysts.
Redha Al Basha, Arab political analyst and a journalist based in Tehran, said Jundallah, the militant group which earlier this year had vowed to avenge the execution of one of its leaders, Abdul Malek Al Rigi, seems to have gone a long way in fulfilling its promise of vengeance.
Dr Hassan Hashimiyan, a political science professor at Azad University and political analyst, told Gulf News, "I think beefing up security is not the only answer to stop cowardly attacks. It has to be coupled with a sort of political solution to defuse the tension."
