Mortar attack on Guards Corps Bassij Command HQ demolishes communications center and heavily damages operations center

In the mortar attack on the Guards Corps Bassij command HQ by Mojahedin's operational units, several mortars hit the communications center of the compound and completely demolished the building, according to reports from Tehran.

Several mortars also hit and inflicted heavy damage on the headquarters' operations center. Both buildings were on fire for several hours.

The Revolutionary Guards Bassij HQ was pounded with mortars on the evening of Thursday, March 18, in response to the suppression of a 50,000-strong protest demonstration by the people of Sanandaj, capital of Iranian Kurdistan.

A large number of commanders and agents of the Bassij were killed or wounded in the attack. The wounded have been hospitalized in Air Force hospital, one of the largest in eastern Tehran.

To prevent any leak of the details of the damages inflicted on the Bassij HQ, the force's commanders issued orders banning the Guards from leaving the compound. Telephone lines were also cut off for several days.

The Guards Corps High Command convened an emergency meeting immediately after the attack on the Bassij HQ. In a confidential report to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and mullahs' President Khatami, who also presides over the Supreme State Security Council, the GC High Command expressed alarm at "the Mojahedin's military advances in recent months," describing them as "a serious threat to the strategic security" of the clerical regime.

People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran
March 22, 1999

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