Bomb attack survivor is new Iran atom chief

Tehran, Feb 13 (AFP) Iran has appointed nuclear scientistFereydoon Abbasi Davani, who survived a bomb attack inNovember, as the country''s new atomic chief, state televisionreported on its website today.

Abbasi Davani, a target of UN sanctions, replaces AliAbkar Salehi who was endorsed as foreign minister last month.

The announcement of his appointment was declared in anorder issued by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the televisionwebsite said.

"You are hereby appointed as a vice president and head ofAtomic Energy Organisation considering the level of yourcommitment, piety and fruitful scientific and executiverecords," Ahmadinejad said in the appointment order carried bythe website.

Abbasi Davani, a senior figure in Iran''s nuclearprogramme, was wounded in a bomb attack on November 29 inTehran which the Islamic republic blamed on the CIA andMossad.

He survived the attack, but another senior nuclearscientist, Majid Shahriari, was killed in a similar assault onthe same day in a separate part of the capital.

Tehran police said that the twin attacks were carried outby men on motorcycles who attached bombs to the scientists''cars as they were driving to work.

Iranian media reports said Abbasi Davani, 52, is the headof the physics department at Tehran''s Imam Hossein University,which is close to Iran''s elite military force theRevolutionary Guards. (AFP)