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At least fifteen people were killed and forty wounded in an attack on a Shiite shrine in Shiraz on Wednesday, according to state television. The self-styled Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the shrine at night.
Several people were killed and dozens were injured in an attack by armed men on a Shiite shrine in Shiraz, southern Iran, on Wednesday, October 26.
“At least 13 people were killed and 40 wounded after three terrorists attacked the Shahcheragh shrine in Shiraz,” state television reported. Two attackers were arrested, the same source said.
The Shahcheragh shrine houses the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia Imam to be buried in Mashhad (northeast). It is the most revered place of worship in southern Iran.
The media initially reported three attackers, two of whom were arrested. However, the head of the local judiciary, Kazem Moussavi, declared on television that “only one terrorist was involved in the attack.”
The self-styled Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shiraz shrine last night. An IS fighter opened fire on worshipers at the Shahcheragh shrine, “killing at least 20 Shiites and wounding dozens more,” Amaq, the Sunni Muslim jihadist group’s propaganda arm, said on Telegram.
The Presidency blames the “enemies of Iran”
A woman and two children were among the victims, according to the Fars news agency. “The arrested terrorists are not Iranians,” added the same source, without giving further details.
The Iranian Presidency issued a statement on Wednesday night accusing “Iran’s enemies” who seek to “split the united ranks of the nation (…) through violence and terror, and promised a severe response of the security forces “to the sponsors and designers of this indiscriminate crime”.
In early April, a 21-year-old foreigner of “Uzbek” origin killed two Shiite clerics and wounded a third in the courtyard of the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city. Accused of “moharebeh” (being “enemy of God” in Persian), the aggressor was hanged on June 7 in the same city, according to the Judicial Authority.
The attack on the Shah-Sharifagh shrine in Shiraz came amid a series of demonstrations in Iran to mark the 40th day of the death of Mahsa Amini, the leader of the Iranian protest movement.
*With AFP and Reuters; adapted from its original French version
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