Shushtari was also reported to be a senior officer in IRGC's Quds Force.
Quds was identified as the foreign operations and intelligence arm of IRGC.
"Behind this scene are the American and British intelligence apparatus,
and there will have to be retaliatory measures to punish them," IRGC
commander Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said.
In all, at least 49 people, most of them tribal leaders, were killed in
Sistan-Baluchistan. Irna said
dozens of others were injured in the blast, condemned by the United States.
"Gen. Shushtari, along with a number of other commanders, had gone there
to attend a conference," Morteza Etasi, a witness, told Iran's Press TV.
"But before going there, there were some tribes people who were busy making
baskets and they went to talk to them. And that's when the attack happened.
Gen. Shushtari got killed along with other senior commanders and tribes
people."
Iran has been fighting an Al Qaida-aligned insurgency along the
Pakistani border. Officials said the Sunni group Jund Allah, or Soldiers of
God, was targeting IRGC targets with the help of Britain, Saudi Arabia and
the United States.
Jund Allah, believed based in neighboring Pakistan, has been led by
Abdul Malek Rigi. Jund has claimed responsibility for the twin bombings.
"Rigi's terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack,"
Iran's state television said.
Irna identified another casualty as Gen. Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, the
IRGC commander of Sistan-Baluchistan. Mohammadzadeh as well as his
colleagues were killed when a suicide bomber, a tribesman, approached an
IRGC contingent as it was meeting Sunni tribal members in the southeastern
city of Sarbaz.
This marked the second major attack by Jund Allah in 2009. In May, the
Sunni group was said to have killed at least 25 people in the bombing of a
Shi'ite mosque in Sistan-Baluchistan.
"There is no doubt that this violent and inhumane act was part of the
strategy of foreigners and enemies of the regime and the revolution to
destroy unity between Shi'ites and Sunnis and create divisions among the
unified ranks of the great Iranian people," IRGC said.
