TERRORISTS KILL 377 BY BURNING THEATER IN IRAN

By William Branigan - August 21, 1978

The Washington Post

Terrorists set fire to a crowded movie theater in the Iranian oil port city of Abadan Saturday night,
killing at least 377 people in one of the worst disasters of its kind in history.

Information Minister Dariush Homayoun said the fire appeared to be one of a series violent
anti-government acts committed by "fanatics" and directed against "all signs of modern living and
Westernization in Iran."

Some diplomats held out the possibility that it could also mark the resurgence of terrorism by the
Mujaheddine (People's Strugglers), the most active of the hard-core urban guerrilla groups that were
responsible for numerous bombings and assassinations in Iran a few years ago.

The country's official news agency, reporting the fire yesterday about 13 hours after it happened,
blamed "saboteurs" and "unidentified protesters" who it said not only doused the theater with
gasoline but also "set fires on all four sides of the building to prevent rescue attempts."

Tehran newspapers said about half the audience managed to get out, an estimated 100 escaping
unhurt and 223 suffering burns or other injuries. The rest were trampled to death, asphyxiated or
burned alive.

Prime Minister Jamshid Amouzegar called the fire a "national catastrophe" and the shah sent his
condolences to families of the victims. Cinema owners in Tehran and several provincial cities closed
their theaters in protest, and "backlash" demonstrations were reported in Abadan and other towns in
southern Iran.

Although the government refused to speculate about the exact identity of those responsible, angry
demonstrators were said to blame extremist Moslem reactionaries whom authorities have accused of
inciting widespread antigovernment riots this year. The shah recently charged that "the rioters
receive their orders from the Communists," but no evidence of such involvement has yet been
produced.

The official Radio Iran described the perpetrators as "terrorists" and quoted the Abadan police chief
as saying a number of suspects have been arrested. No other details were given. Newspapers earlier
reported that the manager of the theater and a janitor, who was reportedly found in a "drunken
state," were detained.

No one claimed responsibility for the fire.

The prominent Iranian opposition leaders - Ayatollah Shariat Madari, the Shiite Moslem spiritual
head, and Mosen Pezeshkpur, a leading nationalist figure in parliament - denied any responsibility
and denounced those who cause it. Madari blamed "hotheaded people with whom we have no links
whatsoever."
Since Ramadan, the Moslem month of fasting and prayer, began Aug. 8, extremist religious leaders
have been addressing mass rallies throughout Iran urging Iranians to attend prayer sessions at
mosques instead of watching movies or television.

In the hours following the Abadan fire, another movie theater and a restaurant were firebombed in
the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, injuring three people, and a restaurant in Tehran was set afire.
Two days ago a theater in the northeastern city of Mashad was burned down, killing three people
sleeping there. Earlier a bomb was placed in a Persian restaurant in Tehran, killing one person and
injuring 40 others, including 10 Americans.

All these incidents came after a series of rampages by religious demonstrators in a dozen cities. At
least 15 people were killed when police and troops opened fire on unruly crowds and martial law
was imposed on the central city of Isfahan - home for about 12,000 Americans, mostly defense
contract personnel, and the site for major industrialization projects.

There was speculation that the burning of the theater may have been timed to coincide with the
25th anniversary of that CIA-backed coup that returned the shah to power in 1953 after a brief exile.
The government organized pro-shah rallies in several cities Saturday to mark the anniversary.

Witnesses reported that many of the victims of the fire were women and children. About 10,000
foreigners, including many Americans, live in Abadan but police said none was believed to be in the
theater, which was in a poorer, working class district of the city.

Flames and smoke suddenly swept through the movie hall around 10 p.m. as an audience of about
700 watched an Iranian family film called "Reindeer" at the Rex theater. According to press accounts
from the scene, panic-stricken filmgoers stampeded toward the building's two emergency exits,
which reportedly had been locked as an anti-terrorist measure.

Screams filled the night as hundreds of bystanders gathered helplessly outside, unable to enter the
inferno to rescue victims.

Most of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. Some determined searchers tried to identify
relatives by their rings or other jewelry.

Rescue workers gagged at the grisly scene and women wailed in the streets.Bulldozers plowed mass
graves - normally banned by Islamic custom - and merchants donated yards of white cloth to make
shrouds for the dead.

Firemen battled the blaze for six hours before bringing it under control. At first they were unable to
get within 50 yards of the theater because of the searing heat, and when they eventually put out the
flames, nothing was left of the building but twisted and blackened steel girders.