WORLD> Middle East
Iran, Turkish call for campaign against terrorism
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-20 00:43

TEHRAN: Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone conversation on Monday stressed the necessity of regional cooperation in the campaign against terrorism, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"Campaign against terrorism would yield fruit only through the presence and joint cooperation of countries in the region," Fars quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

Early on Sunday, a deadly bomb attack occurred in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan near Iran's border with Pakistan, killing 45 people, including a number of the IRGC commanders, and wounded dozens of others.

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The Turkish premier "extended his condolences ... and described the incident as painful, heinous and unacceptable," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

"Turkey is fully ready to cooperate in the fight against the terrorists in the region," said Erdogan.

According to the official IRNA news agency, in another telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari on Monday, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the Pakistani government to help arrest the terrorists and rebels and bring them to justice.  

The Sunni rebel group Jundallah (God's soldiers) has claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide attack.