A senior Iranian provincial judiciary official announced on Saturday that the country’s intelligence forces have defused several bombing plots in the northern province of Mazandaran.
Head of Mazandaran’s Provincial Justice Department Hojjatoleslam Hossein Talebi told reporters that intelligence and security forces had arrested several members of the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), who planned to stage bomb attacks in a number of the cities of Mazandaran province.
"Six suspects have been arrested in this regard," Talebi added.
The official refused to provide any details about the bombing plots or identity of the terrorists, but said that the terrorists were arrested in Ramsar before they could put their plots into action.
Talebi mentioned that further investigations into the case are still underway.
Also, last Tuesday the Iranian intelligence ministry announced that its forces had disbanded two MKO teams before they could stage their planned sabotage and terrorist operations in the capital city of Tehran.
"The terrorist teams aimed to plant bombs in a number of squares in Tehran," Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said at the time, adding the security forces arrested them in a surprise attack before any the terrorists could make a move.
An Iranian official had also announced on Sunday that several members of the MKO were arrested in Tehran last Friday, while they were seeking to spark tension in the Iranian capital on the anniversary of the last year’s presidential election.
"Based on the information received (thus far), a number of MKO members are among the individuals who were arrested by the people (civilians) yesterday," Governor-General of Tehran Morteza Tammadon said.
The development came as a number of opposition groups sought to stage illegal rallies to repeat their last year claims about the outcome of the presidential election that led to the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12, 2009.
Rioters arrested during Iran’s post-election unrests had acknowledged MKO’s leading role in sparking unrests in the Iranian capital last year.
They confessed that they had received trainings in the Camp Ashraf of the MKO in Iraq to conduct sabotage and terror operations in Iran.
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials as well as Iraqis during the rein of Saddam.
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.
The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.