An Iranian scientist involved in the petroleum industry was killed in a car bombing Wednesday in a blast that rocked Tabi Square in northern Tehran, near a university. Two other people were wounded in the blast.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing motorcyclist attach several magnetic bombs to the target’s vehicle, and then fled the scene, according to the semi-official, hard-line Fars news agency.

Professor Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, was known an oil industry expert at Sharif University of Technology.  The institution has in the past been linked with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The bombing, described by the news agency as a “terrorist attack,” occurred as the scientist and his two passengers were already inside the locally-assembled Peugeot 405 car.

There have been several similar attacks on Iranian scientists over the past few years targeting those involved in the country’s nuclear development and military activities. A missile expert died last November in a blast at a military base southwest of Tehran. The scientist was a member of the Revolutionary Guards.

Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for what it calls “the assassinations.” In one report, the Fars news agency specifically named Israel’s international intelligence agency, the Mossad, as being responsible for the scientists’ deaths.

The United Nations Security Council has come to believe that Iran is engaged in developing a nuclear weapon of mass destruction, due to evidence described in a report submitted by its International Atomic Energy Agency a few months ago. Israel has been warning the international community about Iran’s nuclear threat for nearly a decade.

It is not clear whether the scientist was involved in the country’s nuclear development program.

Tags: Iranian Revolutionary Guards ,assassination ,Iran ,Sharif University ,Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan ,IAEA ,Tehran ,car bombing ,oil ,petroleum ,Iranian scientists ,nukes ,nuclear