70 000 ready to fight
2009-01-06 07:13
Tehran, Iran - More than 70 000 Iranian student volunteers have registered to carry out suicide bombings against Israel because of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
According to the official Irna news agency, hardline student leader Esmaeil Ahmadi says the students want to fight Israel in support of Hamas - Gaza's Islamic militant rulers.
Five hard-line student groups and a conservative clerical group launched a registration drive last week to ask the government to allow them to stage the suicide attacks.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has not responded to the call yet.
The government never responded to similar requests in the past.
This raises the likelihood that the calls are mainly for propaganda purposes.
- AP