Iran's death train was carrying explosives to Afghanistan (debka)

Debka ^ | 18 February, 2003

[yonif]

Little credence is given in Tehran to the official claim that the colossal train explosion which killed at least 300 people and razed five villages in the northeastern Khorassan province Wednesday was caused by colliding wagons carrying industrial chemicals and fertilizers, as well as diesel fuel and cotton. Such flammable freights are usually shipped separately in Iran.

DEBKAfile’s sources note that Iranian officials, two days before a highly controversial parliamentary election, are doing their best to play down the disaster outside Neyshabur which rocked houses 50 miles away in Mashad. The Islamic Republican News Agency tried to blame an earth tremor of 3.6 magnitude, but the US Geological Institute in Colorado said no seismic activity was recorded in the area.

Most of the dead were fire and rescue workers, but also the city’s governor Mojtaba Farahmand-Nekou, its mayor and fire chief.

DEBKA’s sources in Tehran have heard unconfirmed reports that the disaster was no accident, but possibly sabotage carried out by anti-government forces in Khorassan province, which borders on Afghanistan. This report ties in with another that claims the train was not carrying innocent industrial cargoes but hundreds of tons of explosive materials Iran was smuggling into Afghanistan via the Shiite city of Herat to be used by Iranian saboteurs and agents for guerrilla attacks on US troops and the forces of President Hamid Karzai, as well for supplying the Taleban in their Kandahar stronghold.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that there were a series of blasts; the first inside the Neyshabur train station was powerful enough to trigger a second explosion in the remote station of Khayyam. There, it set ablaze another train carrying fuel and other flammable material.

Iran has long used Khorassan province as a conduit for smuggling thousands of its agents into Afghanistan. But the province is also home to nearly two million Afghan refugees, some of whom hire out as agents to the Kabul government or the US military. The suggestion is that a group of these agents were ordered to blow up the train when it pulled into Neyshabur. Their mission: to deter the Iranians from further meddling in Afghanistan.

It would not have been hard to persuade Afghan refugees to undertake the mission. As Sunni Muslims, they harbor strong feelings of resentment against their discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite majority. Three years ago, Afghans were responsible for a large explosion in Mashad, an attack launched after Iran ordered the destruction of a makeshift mosque the refugees had built. Several weeks later, a similar blast occurred in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Baluchestan province, where Iranian authorities had pulled down another mosque constructed by the refugees.

It just so happens that in the historic town of Neyshabur, site of Wednesday’s horror, the 11th century poet Omar Khayam was born and buried.

[xJones]

Yonif, I've seen Debka post some of the craziest things. and then some true accounts. You should flip a coin to decide if you believe their latest report.

[cripplecreek]

It is Iran and that was one mighty big boom. On the other hand theres little chance they were going to sneak a trainload of weapons into Afghanistan unnoticed.

[John Jorsett]

Hey, these were peaceful explosives, not the bad kind. What's so hard to believe about that coming from an anti-American government run by a bunch of murderous religious fanatics?

[Eala]

I agree. Yet, on an earlier thread it was reported:

Windows were broken within six miles of the blast.

I rather doubt that this would be the result of an explosion resulting from accidental mixtures of fuel oil and fertilizer...

[Eala]

Are those anything like Joycelyn Elders' "safe bullets"?

[Tacis]

Alas, no matter how often the neocommunist media batters them, we will never know what role the CIA had in this. The lefties and traitors and anti-Americans in the DNC can whine and complain but the CIA can't defend itself. And, especially not in the Congressional oversight committees where any mention of secret agents would immediately be communicated by dem Senators to the Iranians.

[blackdog]

I think it did go noticed. That's the point.

I hope it was a UAV on a joyride equipped with a few hellfire missiles.

A similar event happened in Syria about a month after those North Korean missiles were delayed enroute to Yemen on the high seas. It was ruled that they would be delivered to Yemen as promised. As to what it was that blew up in Syria a month later, Muhamed's mum on that one.......

[John Jorsett]

I rather doubt that this would be the result of an explosion resulting from accidental mixtures of fuel oil and fertilizer...

The mixture itself is believable, since that's what was used in Oklahoma City. What isn't believable is that these elements just happened to combine on a moving train in just the right proportions to form a high explosive, AND THEN managed to get itself detonated (something which ordinarily needs an explosive such as a blasting cap). Unless they decided to save space by mixing the fertilizer, fuel oil, and blasting caps together while they transported them, I'm not buying this explanation.

[Eala]

Right. What I neglected to say was "mixture in the right proportion." There was some discussion of the proportions some years back on FR and what I recall is that there isn't much room for deviation from the ideal mixture. That it should happen accidentally in a trainwreck to produce an explosion this big... I'm not buying it.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Sounds like their karma ran over their dogma. Someone had to say it.

[cripplecreek]

Good point, i do think of those hellfire accidents everytime i hear of one of these mystery bangs.

[MediaMole]

It blew up. It wasn't unnoticed.

[Rocky Mountain High]

That is the nature of intelligence. It's often half right, 1 quarter made up and 1 quarter speculated.

[MD_Willington_1976]

TOOT TOOT...it's the ANFO train..chugga chugga...

Think thats bad, the town where my sister-in-law lives they transport LPG in mile long trains 24/7...One of those things jumps the track and goes off the whole place will be soot...

[Rocky Mountain High]

We have friends in Iran who aren't too happy with the current government. I'm sure some of then receive regular contact and funding by the Christians In Action.

[Mr. Lucky]

The highschool boys who run Debka apparently flunked Geography. There is no railroad between Iran and Afghanistan and never has been. In fact, the only railroad ever built in Afghanistan was built by the Soviets. It was only 7.5 miles long, was on the Soviet - Afghani border and wasn't even the same gage as Iranian railroads. It has been out of service for 15 years.

The railroad system in Iran was originally built to western standards, but has fallen into sad disrepair under the Mullahs.

Sorry gentlemen, but the Iranian train wreck represents nothing more than folks with 7th century industrial skills trying to operate 21st century mechanical equipment.

Allah must be very proud.

[js1138]

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1138.htm

[nuconvert]

They've been sneaking stuff into Afghanistan for quite a while. They have a lot experience sneaking stuff into other countries.

[js1138]

Hey, they got my number!