ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly twin blasts near the burial site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani in southern Iran.
At least 84 people were killed and 284 injured in the blasts on Wednesday, state-run news agency IRNA reported, in what was the deadliest attack in Iran since its 1979 revolution.
ISIS media wing Al-Furqan issued a statement on Thursday – more than 24 hours after the explosions – claiming two suicide bombers, who are brothers, had detonated their explosive vests as Shiite mourners gathered for the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Soleimani near his grave in his hometown of Kerman.
The statement, titled “And Kill Them Wherever You Find Them,” named the two bombers and said they targeted a gathering of “polytheists” near the grave of their “dead leader” Soleimani.
ISIS considers the Shia branch of Islam to be heretical and has targeted shrines and religious sites in Iran previously.
The group offered no further proof and their account of the blasts differs from that given by Iranian media. The death toll provided by ISIS was also significantly higher than that reported by Iranian officials.
Iran did not immediately comment on ISIS’ claim of responsibility. But Iran’s official state news agency IRNA, as well as its English-language state media outlet Press TV, both reported on the ISIS claim of responsibility.
Both referred to the group by its Arabic name “Daesh”, with IRNA posting a screenshot of the terror group’s claim that has appeared on multiple ISIS forums.
Press TV added in their reporting that in a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the Islamic State had claimed that two of its members had detonated explosive belts.
- https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/04/middleeast/iran-islamic-state-attack-kerman-intl/index.html
