Moscow, Jan 16 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Iran has arrested several people in the killing of a nuclear scientist that Tehran blamed on Israel and the US, parliament speaker Ali Larijani told state-run Al-Alam TV.

“We have discovered some clues and some arrests have been made,” Larijani was quoted as saying by the Tehran Times daily.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of the country’s largest uranium enrichment plant, died in a car bomb explosion in Tehran last week. Police said a passing motorcyclist attached a magnetic mine to the car.

Larijani did not give further details on the arrests but said his country would avenge the death using “non-terrorist” tactics.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the US and Israeli intelligence services of killing of the scientist.

The US has denied having anything to do with the scientist’s murder. Israel has not commented on its alleged involvement in the assassination.

The attack was similar to several others on Iranian nuclear scientists in the past two years.

In January 2010, Mahsud Ali Mohamed of Tehran University was killed outside his home. Police said he died when a motorcycle exploded next to his car as he got into the vehicle.

In November 2010, car bomb attacks killed two atomic scientists, Majid Shakhriani and Fereidoun Davani-Abbasi, and injured their wives.

Western nations claim Iran’s nuclear energy research is a cover for atomic weapons production, which Tehran has consistently denied.

–IANS/RIA Novosti
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