Terrorist militia IS claims responsibility for attack in Iran

It was the deadliest attack in decades: More than 80 people were killed in explosions in Iran yesterday. Now the terrorist militia IS has claimed responsibility. Accordingly, two assassins detonated explosive belts.

The terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed more than 80 people in Iran. This emerges from a statement by the Sunni group, which was distributed via the short message service Telegram. Two assassins detonated their explosive belts during mourning events on Wednesday to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Iranian General Ghassem Soleimani, the statement said.

According to a state media report, Iranian investigators also believe there were two suicide bombers. The Irna news agency previously reported, citing an “informed source”, that surveillance camera footage of the route to the memorial event showed a male assassin detonating explosive devices. The insider said the second explosion was probably caused by another bomber.

Iran corrects casualty figures downwards

In the attack in the city of Kerman in the southeast of the country near Soleimani’s gravesite, 84 people were killed and 284 injured in two huge explosions. It was the deadliest attack in the 45-year history of the Islamic Republic.

Iranian officials had revised the death toll down twice from an initial figure of 105. Jafar Miadfar, head of the rescue service, explained the confusion over the number of victims with the devastating condition of some of the bodies.

The UN Security Council condemned the devastating attack as a cowardly terrorist attack. “The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, represents one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” the most powerful UN body said in a statement. Those responsible must be held accountable. The federal government and the EU had previously condemned the attack as an act of terror.

IS considers Shiites to be apostates

More than a year ago, IS claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite shrine in the cultural metropolis of Shiraz. The attack in October 2022 killed more than a dozen people. The judiciary then publicly executed two men with Afghan citizenship whom Iran had held responsible for the attack.

IS considers Iran’s predominant Shiite population to be apostates from Islam and despises them. Shia, the smaller of the two major branches of Islam, is the state religion of the Islamic Republic. A regional branch of IS is active in neighboring Afghanistan, where the group wants to establish a “province” called IS-Khorasan near Pakistan.