Iranian nuclear scientists targeted

29 November 2010

[IRNA, Associated Press, Fars News Agency; 29 November] One Iranian nuclear scientist has died and another has been injured in separate terrorist attacks in Tehran. According to Iranian press reports, Majid Shahryari was killed when terrorists on motorcycles rode close to his car and threw a bomb at the vehicle. His wife and driver were wounded in the attack. Fereydoun Abbasi and his wife were injured in a similar attack. According to Iran's IRNA news agency, the attacks took place as the two professors were on their way to the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. The Associated Press described Shahryari as a member of the nuclear engineering facility at the university, and nuclear physicist Abbasi as one of Iran's top specialists in nuclear isotope separation. Iranian president Mahmoud Amedinejad told a press conference that western governments and Israel were "undoubtedly" involved in the attacks, IRNA reported. Another Iranian nuclear scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed in a terrorist bomb attack in January 2010.

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