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1 000 suicide bombers 'ready'
16/04/2006 22:02 - (SA)
Tehran - A hardline Iranian group said on Sunday it had managed to enroll 55 000 people to take part in suicide attacks against Israel and Western powers.
Although a leader of the committee for the glorification of martyrs of the global Islamic movement acknowledged the recruitment drive was largely symbolic, she did say that some would-be militants had undergone training.
"Beyond its symbolic value, the purpose is also to theoretically and practically prepare volunteers for a real operation," Firouzeh Rajai, the secretary general of the group, told AFP.
"About 1 000 people have taken full training courses, including political analysis classes, foreign languages and basic military operations," she said.
Rajai was speaking as the group launched a fresh drive to recruit volunteers at a pro-Palestinian exhibition inside the former US embassy compound in Tehran - now branded the "den of spies" and doubling as army base and museum. Families
The group insists it is independent, although it frequently operates at regime-sponsored events.
Among the 55 000 volunteers, Rajai said "there are entire families who have registered, from a seven-year-old child to grandparents".
Britain's Sunday Times meanwhile reported that Iran has formed battalions of suicide bombers to hit American and British targets if its nuclear installations are attacked.
But the report said the would-be attackers were part of a "special unit of martyr seekers in the revolutionary guards", adding that they numbered 40 000.
Such recruitment drives are common in Iran, but have largely been dismissed by observers - and played down by many Iranian officials - as a way for ordinary Iranians to vent their anger at Israel and the West.
- AFP
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