Over 100 Killed in Two Explosions near Soleimani Tomb in Southern Iran
The death toll from the two terrorist explosions near the tomb of former IRGC Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Iran's southern Kerman province rose to 103 dead and 141 wounded, the Emergency Situations Agency said.
The death toll from the two terrorist explosions near the tomb of former IRGC Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Iran's southern Kerman province rose to 103 dead and 141 wounded, the Emergency Situations Agency said.
The province of Kerman is witnessing ceremonies and activities to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Soleimani's assassination, amid high turnout from all over Iran.
Iranian state television reported that a first explosion followed a second during the ceremony near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque in Kerman province, where Soleimani is lying.
Two explosions in Kerman were caused by remote detonation of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," an informed security source told the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
Earlier, the semi-official Noor News Agency said that "several gas canisters exploded on the road leading to the cemetery," while Iranian television quoted an unnamed official as saying that the Kerman blasts were a "terrorist attack.
State television showed Red Crescent rescuers tending to the wounded at the site of the explosion.
Our rapid response teams are evacuating the wounded," Reza Falah, the head of the Red Crescent in Kerman province, told state television. But there are waves of crowds blocking the roads.
In the first official response, Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the Karman blasts were a new plot to which our forces will respond in a crushing and urgent manner.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that "revenge against those behind the terrorist attack in Kerman is inevitable.
Pure blood of innocent people was spilled in Kerman by agents and supporters of the Zionist entity," said Mohammad Mukhbar, Iran's vice president.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences to the Iranian people over the victims of the Kerman attacks.
We are deeply saddened by the despicable terrorist attacks in Iran’s Kerman province,” Erdogan said in a post on social media platform X.
On January 3, 2020, Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the PMF Commission, were killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad.