Iran Plans Suicide Squad Attacks on Foes, Paper Says
The Times of London reported Wednesday that Iran has set up a special military unit to prepare suicide squads to launch terrorist attacks in countries unsympathetic to its Islamic revolutionary regime.
The newspaper said documents obtained by an Iranian opposition movement identify Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and France as prime targets.
The paper said the documents gave details of a top-level meeting of Iranian officials and army commanders last May establishing the unit, with the full approval of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader.
Documents said the terrorist group will be built around the nucleus of “a few groups of 10 to 20 people each who are currently serving in Lebanon.”
The paper said the documents were acquired by the National Movement of the Iranian Resistance led by Shahpour Bakhtiar, a former Iranian prime minister.
Bakhtiar, now living in exile in Paris, was the last prime minister appointed by the late Shah of Iran before the monarch was overthrown in 1979 in the revolution that brought Khomeini to power.
The documents state that specialized instructors from the Iranian armed forces should be transferred to the suicide squads and that between 1,500 and 2,000 young men should be recruited for training, the newspaper said.
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