At least 103 people were killed and 188 injured in two terrorist attacks at a ceremony in Iran on Wednesday honoring military commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by a U.S. drone in 2020, according to reports from the Iranian news agency Fars.
The explosions affected Kerman, which is located around 510 miles (or 820 kilometers) southeast of Tehran, and sent shrapnel flying into a gathering of people who were running from an earlier explosion. Long queues of people had assembled for the celebration, taking place on the fourth anniversary of the U.S. drone strike in Iraq that claimed the life of the leader of the Revolutionary Guard’s special Quds Force.
The Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, informed state television that the second explosion, which killed and injured the greatest number of people, occurred around 20 minutes after the first one, which had happened at approximately 3 p.m.
Iranian media released videos that showed scores of victims lying about, some witnesses attempting to respond to the survivors, and others rushing to get out of the blast zone.
What may be the worst terrorist strike to target Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 has not yet been attributed to any group. There seems to be no immediate sign of any foreign participation in the attack. Sunni extremist organizations, such as the Islamic State group, have previously carried out significant strikes that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people throughout Shiite-majority Iran.
“The explosions in Kerman are crimes committed by the enemies of Iran and the mercenaries of terrorism and darkness,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated in a note, adding that “the perpetrators of this cowardly act will soon be identified and punished for their heinous act”.
One of the most influential figures in post-1979 Iran, Soleimani oversaw the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, an elite force that manages Iran’s international activities and which the US designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The brain behind Iranian military activities in Syria and Iraq, he was assassinated on January 3, 2020, at Baghdad International Airport by a US airstrike that was authorized by then-president Donald Trump.
The carnage comes amid regional tensions involving Tehran’s main adversary, Israel, which is carrying out a deadly war in the Gaza Strip in which several pro-Iranian groups were also targeted.
An Israeli bombing in a Beirut suburb on Tuesday reportedly claimed the life of a top Hamas commander. Although Israel hasn’t acknowledged or disputed its role, Hezbollah and Hamas have both accused the Jewish state of being involved and promised retaliation.
