More than 100 killed in ‘terrorist attacks’ near Iranian Guards commander Soleimani’s tomb during ceremony
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An Iranian woman is standing next to flags featuring portraits of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in a war toys and religious accessory shopping mall in downtown Tehran, on the anniversary of the killing of Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad Airport by the United States, on December 30, 2023. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Two explosions caused by ‘terrorist attacks’ killed more than 100 people and wounded scores at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate top commander Qassem Soleimani who was killed by a U.S. drone in 2020, Iranian officials said on Wednesday.
Iranian state television reported a first and then a second blast during an anniversary event at the cemetery where Soleimani is buried in the southeastern city of Kerman.
An unnamed official told the state news agency IRNA that “Two explosive devices planted along the road leading to Kerman’s Martyrs’ Cemetery were detonated remotely by terrorists”.
Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for Iran’s emergency services, was reported as saying 73 people had been killed and 170 injured. State television said later that at least 100 people had been killed.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
A view of the scene after explosions leaving at least 73 feared dead in explosions near slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s tomb, in Kerman City, Iran on January 03, 2024.
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Videos aired by Iranian media showed dozens of bodies strewn around with some bystanders trying to attend to survivors and others hurrying to leave the blast area.
“A terrible sound was heard there, despite all the security and safety measures. We are still investigating,” Reza Fallah, head of the Kerman Red Crescent Society, told state television.
Red Crescent rescuers tended to wounded people at the ceremony, where hundreds of Iranians had gathered to mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s death. Some Iranian news agencies said the number of wounded people was much higher.
“We are now evacuating the wounded and injured in the area. The crowd is huge and the job is quite hard all the paths to there are blocked,” Fallah said.
The U.S. assassination of Soleimani in a drone attack at Baghdad airport and Tehran’s retaliation by attacking two Iraq military bases that house U.S. troops brought the United States and Iran close to full-blown conflict in 2020.
As chief commander of the elite Quds force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Soleimani ran clandestine operations in foreign countries and was a key figure in Iran’s long-standing campaign to drive U.S. forces out of the Middle East.
A view of the scene after explosions leaving at least 73 feared dead in explosions near slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s tomb, in Kerman City, Iran on January 03, 2024.
Stringer | Anadolu | Getty Images
Tensions between Iran and Israel, along with its ally the United States, have reached a new high over Israel’s war on Iranian-backed Hamas militants in Gaza in retaliation for their Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia have attacked ships they say have links to Israel in the entrance to the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
U.S. forces have come under attack by Iran-backed militants in Iraq and Syria over Washington’s backing of Israel and have carried out their own retaliatory air strikes.
On Monday an Israeli airstrike killed a senior leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria.
Iran has in the past blamed Israel for attacks on individual people or places within its borders – claims which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied – but there was no indication of any foreign involvement in the explosions at Wednesday’s ceremony.
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