Over 100 killed by blasts at memorial for Iranian general

RT
Wed, 03 Jan 2024 14:06 UTC

© Stringer/Anadolu/Getty Images

Treating the wounded • Kerman City, Iran • January 03, 2024

Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on this day in 2020...

At least 103 people have reportedly been killed as two explosions ripped through a memorial to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iran's south-central city of Kerman on Wednesday, according to media reports.

The blasts occurred close to the grave site of the former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, Iranian media reports said. Mohammad Saberi, who leads Kerman's emergency rescue services, initially told state media that 20 people had been killed in the explosions and a further 20 had been injured, Al Jazeera reported.

Iranian media has since reported that 103 people have died, while 141 were injured. These figures are likely to rise in the coming hours. The agency also noted that officials at the scene have described the incident as a terrorist attack, and that two bags containing bombs are thought to have exploded in the crowded area after being detonated remotely.

Video footage of the aftermath of the incident circulating on social media shows injured people at the scene being attended to by medics and being removed on stretchers.

"Our rapid response teams are evacuating the injured," Reza Fallah, head of Kerman's Red Crescent humanitarian group, told Iranian television, according to Al Jazeera. He added that rescue operations were hampered by "waves of crowds blocking roads."

Soleimani, a revered figure in Iran, was killed in a US drone strike authorized by former US President Donald Trump in Baghdad, Iraq on January 3, 2020. Trump later said that he had ordered the US military operation in response to intelligence that claimed that Soleimani was planning an "imminent" attack on US forces in the Iraqi capital.

The incident in Kerman comes one day after a senior Hamas figure, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in a drone strike in Lebanon. Iran condemned the attack, saying that it could potentially "ignite another surge in the veins of resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers."

The explosions are reported to have been separated by periods of about ten to 15 minutes. The first occurred about 700 meters (less than half a mile) from Soleimani's tomb at the Golzar Shohada cemetery in Kerman. The second was about a kilometer (0.6 miles) away, the Guardian said.

The cemetery, otherwise known as the Garden of Martyrs, is a resting place for more than 1,000 people considered to be martyrs. The site has become known as a pilgrimage destination for supporters of the "axis of resistance" against the US and the West. Footage appears to show that Soleimani's tomb was not damaged in the attack.

The identities of those behind the explosions - or their motivations - are not yet known. However, Kianush Jahanpur, the former spokesman for Iran's health ministry, has suggested on social media that "the answer to this crime should only be in Tel Aviv, Haifa."

Iran had in recent days said it had executed four persons that it said were linked to Israel's Mossad intelligence services.

Comment: According to the Guardian:

Iran's new minister of interior, the hardliner Ahmad Vahidi, did not immediately attribute blame for the attack and no side claimed responsibility for the deadliest single terrorist incident since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The US state department said it had no reason to believe that Israel was involved.

An early death toll of 103 was revised down [to 95], but Iran's health minister, Bahram Einollahi, said many of the wounded were in critical condition, and the death toll could rise.

The attack could not have come at a more febrile moment in the Middle East. Fighting between Hamas and Israel continues to rage in Gaza, and Hamas accused Israel of launching a drone attack on Tuesday that killed its deputy head in Beirut. That attack saw limited casualties in a densely populated neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital.

Israel's hallmark is the targeted assassination of key military and scientific figures inside Iran, as opposed to mass terrorist attacks on civilians, but it has also said its rules of engagement have changed in response to the Hamas killings on 7 October, for which Israel holds Iran ultimately responsible.

Iran's president, Ebrahim Raisi, responded by saying: "The enemies of the nation should know that such actions can never cause a disturbance in the iron determination of the Iranian nation to defend Islamic ideals."

He added that the attacks only made Iran more determined "to dry up the roots of terror and violence". Iran has shown no desire to become directly embroiled in fighting Israel, preferring instead to provide support to proxy groups.