Opposition group claims responsibility for Tehran mortar attack

May 1, 2000
Web posted at: 4:17 PM EDT (2017 GMT)

TEHRAN, Iran -- An Iraqi-based opposition group has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack in Iran that reportedly injured six people.

The Mujahideen Khalq armed opposition group claimed responsibility for the attack in a northwestern area of the Iranian capital Tehran, near the city's main police headquarters.

The group said in a statement that the target was the headquarters for state security forces and police.

The official IRNA news agency, quoting state television, reported that six people were injured when "several" mortar shells hit the neighborhood.

"Several military units of the Mujahideen pounded with mortars the headquarters of state security forces, the police forces and the command headquarters of Gen. Hedayat Lotfian, the chief commander of the state security forces," a Mujahideen spokesman told Reuters news agency in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, by telephone.

Earlier, Iranian state television reported that three mortar rounds hit a building housing cultural and sports facilities in northern Tehran. It gave no further details.

Witnesses said police had sealed off the streets around the headquarters and that the situation in the area was tense.

In an attack claimed by the Mujahideen Khalq in March, a mortar round landed near a Revolutionary Guards base near the police headquarters. The blast killed one person and injured several others.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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