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Iran denies media reports of attack on president
Reuters ^ | 12/19/05

Posted on 12/19/2005 8:19:40 AM PST by Valin

TEHRAN, (Reuters) - Iran denied on Monday media reports that a firefight last week in the country's lawless southeastern borderlands was an assassination attempt on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Government officials said Ahmadinejad was making a speech in Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, on Wednesday when a car carrying security forces was attacked by smugglers on the road to the Gulf port of Chaharbahar. "During the attack, the local driver and a Revolutionary Guardsman was killed. The police immediately intervened. One smuggler was killed and one arrested," government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a news conference.

Some domestic and foreign reports described the attack as an assassination attempt, but officials said the vehicle that came under fire was not part of Ahmadinjad's cavalcade and that there had been no question of the president travelling on that road. The vehicle had been deployed as part of largescale security measures imposed for the presidential visit. "The attack just shows this region is very insecure for everyone: Sunnis, Shi'ites, Baluch and non-Baluch," Elham said.

The Baluch tribes of southeastern Iran are predominantly Sunni Muslims. Shi'ism is the official religion in Iran. Sistan-Baluchistan is a main conduit for drugs moving to Europe from Afghanistan and Pakistan. More than 3,300 Iranian troops have died fighting well-armed traffickers since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The area is dotted with police forts, which would explain how police were able to intervene quickly in the gunbattle.

In his speech in Zahedan, Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a myth, sparking international uproar.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; assassinationplot; denial; iran

1 posted on 12/19/2005 8:19:40 AM PST by Valin
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To: Valin

Darn!


2 posted on 12/19/2005 8:22:46 AM PST by oxcart
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To: Valin

Shi'ism is the official religion in Iran.
----
Need we say more?


3 posted on 12/19/2005 8:23:02 AM PST by EagleUSA
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To: Valin

Bagdad Bob is in Iran now?????


4 posted on 12/19/2005 8:23:40 AM PST by showme_the_Glory (No more rhyming, and I mean it! ..Anybody got a peanut.....)
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To: Valin

I don't understand why anyone would want to kill him. He's such a sweetheart.


5 posted on 12/19/2005 8:25:36 AM PST by Proud_USA_Republican (We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. - Hillary Clinton)
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To: Proud_USA_Republican

My sarcasm meter is twiching.


6 posted on 12/19/2005 8:33:16 AM PST by Valin (Purple Fingers Rule!)
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To: Valin

Nothing to see here. Move along.......... LoL


7 posted on 12/19/2005 8:33:25 AM PST by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: Valin

Then these pictures were taken at what - a birthday party?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1543197/posts?page=26#26

Who do I beleive? Lets see now.......


8 posted on 12/19/2005 8:36:52 AM PST by SueRae
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To: showme_the_Glory

No just Dan Rather.


9 posted on 12/19/2005 8:38:31 AM PST by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: Valin
Meanwhile, in the United States,

"Media denies media attack on President"


10 posted on 12/19/2005 9:01:47 AM PST by Dilbert56
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