Suicide blast hits elite Iranian force
TEHRAN, Iran -- A suicide car bomber claimed by an al-Qaida-linked group attacked a bus carrying members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard paramilitary force Wednesday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 13 others, state media outlets reported.
Tehran immediately linked the attack in Iran's restive southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province to an ongoing U.S.-led conference in Warsaw largely focused on Iran, just two days after the nation marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The bombing also raised the specter of possible Iranian retaliation targeting a Sunni militant group called Jaish al-Adl that claimed the attack, which largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Recent militant assaults inside Iran have sparked retaliatory ballistic missile strikes in Iraq and Syria.
The bombing Wednesday night struck the bus traveling on a road between the cities of Khash and Zahedan, a mountainous region along the Pakistani border that is also near Afghanistan.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, citing what it described as an "informed source," offered initial casualty figures of 20 dead and 20 wounded. The Revolutionary Guard later reported on its website that 27 were killed and 13 wounded.
Lebanon gets U.S.' delivery of rockets
BEIRUT -- The American Embassy in Lebanon says the United States has delivered laser-guided rockets valued at more than $16 million to the Lebanese army.
In a statement, it says the rockets delivered Wednesday are a key component for a fleet of A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft previously delivered. The delivery demonstrates the U.S. government's "firm and steady commitments" to support the Lebanese military in its capacity as the "sole, legitimate defender of Lebanon."
The reference appeared to be aimed at the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which has an arsenal that rivals that of the Lebanese army and dominates the country's politics.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offered his country's military aid to Lebanon during a visit this week, but said the Lebanese government had to show "a desire" to accept it first.
13 N. Macedonians killed in bus crash
SKOPJE, North Macedonia -- A bus carrying workers in North Macedonia crashed into a small ravine outside the capital, Skopje, killing 13 people and injuring about 30 others Wednesday, the newly renamed European nation's health minister said.
Venko Filipce said seven victims were pronounced dead at the scene and the rest died after they were taken to a hospital.
Out of the other injured people, one was in life-threatening condition, according to Hristijan Kostov, director of the Skopje hospital where most were being treated.
The bus was carrying about 50 people when it veered off a highway linking Skopje with the western town of Tetovo and plunged 30 feet into a small ravine, landing upside down. The cause of the crash, about 15 miles west of Skopje, wasn't yet known.
Firefighters and villagers rushed to the scene of the crash to help pull survivors, including the bus driver, out of the wreckage.
The bus had been carrying workers back from Skopje to the town of Gostivar, about 50 miles southwest of the capital, where most of them lived, Gostivar Mayor Arben Taravari said.
A Section on 02/14/2019