Iran condemns deadly terrorist bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan

Iran strongly condemned the recent terrorist bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan which killed tens of Shiite mourners in a time that millions of Shiite Muslims were commemorating the annual religious ritual in the two war-torn countries. Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar on Tuesday described the bombings as an attempt to fuel ethnic and sectarian tensions, and to create insecurity and instability in regional countries. The Iranian foreign minister urged people to exercise self-restraint, warning that foreign countries seek to disturb peace and stability in the region through provoking sectarian and ethnic conflicts. The remarks by Salehi came after at least 56 Afghans lost their lives and 160 others wounded in two separate explosions in Afghanistan's Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif where hundreds had gathered to commemorate the holiday of Ashoura. Meantime, in Iraq separate bomb attacks killed at least 33 Shiite mourners and wounded 101 others across the country. Millions of Shiites took part in massive processions on Tuesday, marking the anniversary of the martyrdom of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved leaders. Dressed in mourning black, they beat their chests with bare hands and lashed their shoulders with iron chains - rituals meant to show their grief over the death of Imam Hossein (AS), grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and Shiite Islam's third Imam. Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the occasion climaxed Tuesday, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Moharram. Imam Hossein (AS) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine. In the battle, Imam Hossein (AS) was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala. The Imam and 72 of his loyal friends and followers were massacred by the troops of the Caliph in 680 at a place close to what is now Karbala, Iraq. The enemy army even killed his 6-month-old son after 3 days of thirst. The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.