NICOSIA - The People's Mujahadeen, said Wednesday its forces had attacked a headquarters of the elite Revolutionary Guards in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

An unspecified number of guards were killed or wounded in the mortar bombing of the Karbala garrison near Ahwaz, the Mujahadeen said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia.

On Monday the group said it had attacked another military base in the north of the province with rockets. The Mujahadeen said the attacks marked the nineteenth anniversary of the launch of the Iranian resistance.

[The Mojahedin Command Headquarters in Iran announced that on Tuesday, Mojahedin operational units poured a heavy barrage of mortars on Karbala Garrison, the principal command headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in southern Iran. The military compound, also known as the Gulf Garrison, situated north-east of the city of Ahwaz, also houses the command HQ of the Guards’ 7th Vali-Asr Division.

[A number of Revolutionary Guards officers were killed or wounded in this major assault, which coincided with the nineteenth anniversary of the launch of the Iranian Resistance. June 20 is also honored by the Iranian Resistance as the Day of Martyrs and Political Prisoners.

[The main task of the Karbala Garrison is to suppress antigovernment protests and uprisings in the strategic Khuzistan Province. The garrison’s commander, Revolutionary Guards Brigadier Gen. Rahim Noei-Aqdam, is the senior member of the province’s Security Council.

[The garrison was the central command HQ of the mullahs' forces in the southern front throughout the eight-year war with Iraq and was the most active center for sending youngsters and boys to their certain deaths as "human mine-sweepers."]
 

Mullahs' Failed Terrorist Car Bomb Exposed, Agence France Presse, June 21

BAGHDAD - Four people, including an Iranian intelligence officer, were killed when a car bomb exploded in Iraq, state television said Wednesday, without giving the precise date or place of the blast.

"The Iranian intelligence officer, Hussein Karamati, and three of his accomplices were killed in the explosion of a car containing 25 kilograms of TNT, which was to have been used in a remote control attack," the television said.

The explosion occurred after June 2, it indicated. The television presenter said "107 mm rocket launchers were also in the vehicle, which was totally destroyed."
 

Music Festival Omits Beethoven Because Of Female Voices, Agence France Presse, June 21

TEHRAN - Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" was barred from a music festival being staged here Wednesday because it uses the female voice, the organizer of the event said.

"We will not play the Ninth Symphony, because it includes the voices of women, which are forbidden according to the Islamic law in force in our country," said Fereydun Nasseri, head of the Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Fete de la Musique, a music festival started in France in 1982 that now takes place in a number of countries, almost always includes "Ode to Joy," the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
 

Brain-Drain of Top Students Under Mullah's Regime, Agence France Presse, June 21

TEHRAN - All Iranian students who come in the top 99 in their university entrance exams receive offers from prestigious foreign universities, which few of them turn down, the daily newspaper Bayan said Wednesday.

Of 125 Iranian high school students who have won awards at International Science Olympiads over the past three years, 90 of them are now at US universities, and 150,000 Iranian surgeons and engineers now live in the United States, the newspaper said.
 

Hajjarian Admits Giving Money to Ahmadi, The Tehran Times, June 21

TEHRAN - Tehran City Council (TCC) member, Saeid Hajjarian, in his interviews with different dailies admitted that the TCC has given Ahmadi some Rls.1,500,000. Ahmadi is accused of recording a tape in which Hajjarian has been threatened to death.

Members of TCC immediately after the Tehran Times report denied giving the amount to Ahmadi. However, Hajjarin himself admitted that the money was given to Ahmadi. In his interview with Tehran Times Hajjarian said he used to know Ahmadi and the council gave Ahmadi the money for his activities in the local mosque.

Back to Brief on Iran