IRGC ready to attack Jundallah

TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Iranian commanders called for authority to launch a major operation against the Jundallah terrorist group in Pakistan following Sunday's deadly attack.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of the ground forces for the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, urged Iranian officials to give the orders to allow his troops to attack Jundallah.

"This is not acceptable to us that terrorists enter Iran from a neighboring country and stage terrorist action," he told the Fars News Agency.

A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday at a conference between Shiite and Sunni groups in Sarbaz in southeastern Iran. The dead included five senior officials of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Pakistani-based Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack. Iran blames Pakistan for harboring the group and the United States and Britain for backing the militant organization.

The international community, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, issued several statements condemning the attack.

Zardari, the Fars report said, reminded the Iranian government that his forces had just started operations along the volatile eastern border to take on fundamentalist militants.