Iran Hangs 3 for Mosque Blast

Attack scatters meeting of extremist Shiite organization

(NEWSER) - A bomb killed nine and wounded more than 100 in an Iranian mosque today, scattering members of an extremist Shiite group, the BBC reports. Police and militia have cordoned off the area while medics attend to victims and local media call for blood donations. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. More»

(NEWSER) - Gunmen raised political tensions in Iran today by shooting up a campaign office in Zahedan, the town where a mosque bombing left 23 dead yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Tehran officials accused Washington of supporting the gunmen, who injured up to three people in the office of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A Sunni militant group, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for the mosque attack. More»

(NEWSER) - Iran executed up to 30 people in the past month, mostly in public hangings, in a nationwide crackdown on murderers, sex offenders, drug traffickers, and other threats to "social security," reports the Observer. Human rights advocates say the sweep, also advertised as countering an alleged surge in US-backed plots to subvert the government, is intended to silence political activists. More»

They spent two days at Thai 'sex resort,' say officials

(NEWSER) - Three Iranians suspected of plotting Bangkok bomb attacks on Israeli diplomats arranged to meet women as they planned their missions—and they weren't 72 virgins . They spent hours over two nights partying with prostitutes at a Thai beach resort in Pattaya, known for its sex industry, say authorities. One of the prostitutes has been brought in to identify the men in Bangkok, where they're being held, reports MSNBC . The hookers took a cell-phone snap of the hard-partying Muslims that has been published in the Bangkok Post. Nothing triggered the prostitutes' suspicions except when they were ordered away from a closet in the men's hotel room. More»

Bangkok rocked by series of explosions

(NEWSER) - An Iranian man blew his own leg off in Bangkok today, as a series of explosions rocked the Thai capital, the New York Times reports. The first blast occurred in the house the man was renting in a residential neighborhood; witnesses say three men who appeared to be foreigners ran from the house after its roof was torn off, including the man who was later injured. He was disoriented and threw hand grenades at a taxi and at police officers, but the second bomb he attempted to lob failed to reach the officers and instead took his leg off. Three Thai people and the taxi driver suffered minor injuries in the explosions. More»