The National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran’s Majlis says recent terrorist attack in Iraq are aimed at sowing discord among Islamic sects.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee condemned the recent terrorist attack on Iranian pilgrims in Iraq.

Sixteen Iranian pilgrims were killed in a terrorist bomb attack in the Iraqi city of Muqdadiyah in Diyala Province, about 80 km northeast of the capital Baghdad, on Friday morning.

The blast, killing nearly 20 people overall, ripped through the bus taking pilgrims to the holy city of Najaf. At least 45 people, many of them thought to be Iranians, were also wounded in the bombing.


“Such terrorist attacks are a scheme by the Americans to create disagreement and skepticism among Islamic religious traditions,” the statement said.

The Committee called on international organizations and bodies to condemn the perpetrators of such chain assassinations and provide security for Iranian pilgrims.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi condemned the attack as indiscriminate and unjust, and against all human and Islamic principles.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for Friday’s bloody attack.

In another terrorist attack on May 25, five Iranian pilgrims were killed and 20 others injured after a booby-trapped car hit their bus near the city of Samarra, some 125 km north of Baghdad.

HK