© IRIB / Reuters A gunman entering Iranian parliament building June 7, 2017, Tehran, Iran.
"The mastermind and main commander of terrorist attacks on the parliament and Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini was killed today by the security forces," intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency, Reuters reports.
The suspected orchestrator of the attack, who has not been named, was tracked down by Iranian intelligence after he had fled the country amid the ongoing crackdown by government forces.
Acting in cooperation with "friendly foreign intelligence services," the Iranian team killed the suspect on Saturday, PressTV reported, citing the minister.
Two guards, ten government staffers and five civilians were killed in the Wednesday attacks which targeted the country's parliament and shrine of the late founder of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Fifty-two others were injured in the attacks, according to the Interior Ministry.
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly operation and threatened more attacks against Iran's Shiite majority, triggering a massive manhunt for IS followers by Tehran.
Authorities said Saturday that they identified and arrested an IS-affiliated cell of some 60 members in the suburb of Tehran, Iran's IRNA news agency reported.
"The terrorists were affiliated to the Wahabi and Takfiri groups who joined the Daesh terrorist group overseas and were red handed in the crimes of the terrorist group in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqah in Syria," Commander of the Law Enforcement Force Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari said.
Authorities also announced the detention of eight suspects in the Alborz province, north of Tehran.
A day earlier, the Intelligence Ministry said they detained 41 members of the "Wahhabi IS group," in Tehran and the western Kurdish provinces.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Friday that terrorist attacks would only increase Tehran's hatred against the US and its "stooges" such as Saudi Arabia. The comments come just a day after Alavi said investigators were working to determine whether Riyadh had a hand in the attacks.
* They've once again changed the Western way of spelling it. (Remember Al Quaida? - Too many "All-CIA-Duh" jokes followed, so the US spelling was changed to Al Qaeda, which itself came from the came from the CIA's attempted Arabic interpretation for the phrase "The Base" (previously, 'The Data Base") - well the phraseology/pronunciation of AQ meant, when heard by most Arabic speakers meant the equivalent to the American English words 'toilet' or 'commode.'** Quite a name for a supposedly self named self spontaneously risen group run by some guy named Bin Laden whose family, last I heard, was also a part owner in with Bush*t/Cheney/Rumseld and sundry CIA MI6 Cronies in 'The Carlyle Group'.
So the CIA has given up, and decided to again change the name for their little band of evil useful idiots/useless scum, and given that the CIA can't seem to get around to giving it a name that doesn't upset 'our' 'Hajis'***, they've given up - From now on, It's just AL Ka Ka. Got it.
(Just like Mumbai used to be Bombay, and Beijing used to be Peking Duck, and Muslims used to be Muslems, before that Moslems, before that, Mohommedans, before that Mussellmen, etc.
** I don't know about the UK's "water closet." (Ever since a child, when I heard that usage, I thought of James Bond walking in a fancy UK hotel, over to a door to a walk in closet, pulling it open, and a wall of yellowish turdy water enveloping him. )
Likewise, to an american, the phrase 'Toilet Water' for a very expensive and usually yellowish liquid probably didn't help US sales, eh?
*** I'm using US Soldier terminology for all these folks AmeriKa supposedly wants to help, by planting poppies and airfields, and soldiers and air bases, and who obviously must love our little brown skinned brothers: you know, it must be a term of affection by our 'kind' soldiery- just listen to Collateral Murder. (And soon back home to be kicking down your front door. . .
Sergeant: Off to the FEMA camp for this American Haji...
Corporal/Medic, he's shot pretty bad sir, and the orders say 'to Gitmo' for this one.
Sergeant: But Obysmal promised to close that place, in TWO different elections!
Corporal/Medic: Here, check out what this form twenty-seven B stroke six... says..............
The pain somehow impossibly seems to be fading....
Sergeant: [ ] Forget that. Just crucify this one for saying may his God forgive me, claiming I know not what I do.. .... He may think so, but I KNOW I got these here orders...
Meanwhile, many true Americans' spirits waft away, and their bodies are cast in gasoline filled lakes of fire........ for some poet to write about 2,000 years hence. . . And what is this rough beast.....etc.
R.C.