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Iran Hard-liners Mark 1983 Attack on U.S. Marines
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian hard-liners erected a monument Thursday to commemorate a suicide bombing which killed 241 U.S. servicemen in Lebanon in 1983, witnesses said.
Some 200 men and women, many dressed as suicide bombers, chant 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' during a ceremony at a cemetery in Tehran, December 2, 2004. Iranian hardliners erected a monument Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on Thursday to commemorate a suicide bombing which killed 241 U.S. servicemen in Lebanon in 1983, witnesses said. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi
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A group called the committee of the "Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign" held the event at Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery to praise the attack 21 years ago against the United States, Iran's arch-foe.
"The bombing was a great achievement of Muslims in their fight against America," said its spokesman Ali Mohammadi.
More than 100 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives at a U.S. Marines barracks at Beirut's international airport. The United States accused the Iran-backed Hizbollah guerrilla group for the bombing.
The Americans were taking part in a multinational effort to halt Lebanon's civil war, although many Lebanese saw the U.S. forces as actively shoring up a pro-Israel, right-wing Christian presidency.
About 200 men and women gathered at the cemetery in southern Tehran. Some dressed as suicide bombers chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as the stone monument was unveiled.
The group, which has no links to official organizations, in September also placed a symbolic gravestone at the cemetery for two Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out a twin bus bombing that killed 16 Israelis earlier this year.
It announced its existence in June when it started registering volunteers prepared to carry out suicide attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Iran has strongly condemned the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
The group said more than 25,000 "martyrdom seeking" volunteers have so far signed up and one of its members said the registration drive would continue.
"We have been ordered to cover the faces to avoid being recognized when traveling abroad to carry out the attacks," a masked volunteer said at the cemetery.
But the group has said it will only carry out attacks if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives the green light.
Iran's deputy interior minister for security affairs, Ali Asghar Ahmadi said Sunday the volunteers would not be allowed to cross Iran's borders. "Such groups are illegal. Such measures will be strongly confronted by Iran," he said.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6979851
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A group called the committee of the "Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign" held the event at Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery to praise the attack 21 years ago against the United States, Iran's arch-foe.
"The bombing was a great achievement of Muslims in their fight against America," said its spokesman Ali Mohammadi.
More than 100 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives at a U.S. Marines barracks at Beirut's international airport. The United States accused the Iran-backed Hizbollah guerrilla group for the bombing.
The Americans were taking part in a multinational effort to halt Lebanon's civil war, although many Lebanese saw the U.S. forces as actively shoring up a pro-Israel, right-wing Christian presidency.
About 200 men and women gathered at the cemetery in southern Tehran. Some dressed as suicide bombers chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as the stone monument was unveiled.
The group, which has no links to official organizations, in September also placed a symbolic gravestone at the cemetery for two Palestinian suicide bombers who carried out a twin bus bombing that killed 16 Israelis earlier this year.
It announced its existence in June when it started registering volunteers prepared to carry out suicide attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. Iran has strongly condemned the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
The group said more than 25,000 "martyrdom seeking" volunteers have so far signed up and one of its members said the registration drive would continue.
"We have been ordered to cover the faces to avoid being recognized when traveling abroad to carry out the attacks," a masked volunteer said at the cemetery.
But the group has said it will only carry out attacks if Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gives the green light.
Iran's deputy interior minister for security affairs, Ali Asghar Ahmadi said Sunday the volunteers would not be allowed to cross Iran's borders. "Such groups are illegal. Such measures will be strongly confronted by Iran," he said.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6979851
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Covering their faces, Iranian women, who are members of a suicide commandos unit, chant Islamic slogans, during a ceremony where the first suicide commandos unit was inaugurated at the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery just outside Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004. Members of the unit said they would bury all occupiers in Islamic lands. Some 200 masked young men and women gathered at a Tehran cemetery Thursday to pledge their willingness to carry out suicide bomb attacks against Americans in Iraq and Israelis. The ceremony was organized by the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, a shadowy group that has since June been seeking volunteers for attacks in Iraq and Israel. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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