This Thursday, January 4, the Iranian authorities declared a day of national mourning in tribute to the dozens of victims of the double explosion that occurred on the eve of the commemoration of the four years of the US attack that killed General Qassem Soleimani in the city of Kerman. Through a statement, the self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack that left at least 84 people dead.
First modification: Last modification:
3 min
The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility this Thursday, January 4, for the attack that left at least 84 dead near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, where the tomb of General Soleimani is located, who died in January 2020 after a US attack. with drones in Iraq.
Through its Telegram channels, the self-proclaimed Islamic State assured that two of its members “activated their explosive belts” in the middle of “a large meeting of apostates, near the tomb of its leader Qassem Soleimani yesterday in Kerman, in the south of Iran”.
The Iranian authorities declared this Thursday a day of national mourning in memory of the many victims of the attack, the deadliest in the country since 1978, when an arson attack killed at least 377 people in a cinema in Abadan, according to AFP records. .
The attack in Iran occurred a day after the death of a senior official of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in an attack in Lebanon, attributed to Israel. And in the midst of a very tense regional context since the beginning of the conflict in October between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Before the Islamic State's claim, which came 24 hours after the attack, Iranian officials had pointed out what happened to Israel and the United States. Which threatened a regional escalation of the conflict in Gaza.
Representatives of the Iranian regime were present at the memorial ceremony.
This Thursday, the death toll fell after the 103 announced by the official Irna press agency and the 95 by the Minister of Health, Bahram Eynollahi.. The head of the country's emergency services, Jafar Miadfar, put the toll at 84 dead and 284 injured.
A political adviser to the Iranian president claimed that the “American and Zionist regimes” were behind the attack, a statement that came before it was claimed by the Islamic State.
The claim was called “absurd” by the US State Department. “It looks like a terrorist attack, the kind of thing the Islamic State has done in the past,” said a senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israel, Iran's sworn enemy, did not comment on the attack. “We are focused on the fighting with Hamas” in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, declared Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised a “severe response” to the attack. While President Ebrahim Raissi described the attack as a “hateful and cowardly” act, and canceled a planned trip to Turkey, according to state media.
International condemnation
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, supported by Tehran, condemned what happened as a “terrorist act (…) that seeks to destabilize the security of the Islamic Republic at the service of the agenda of the Zionist entity (Israel).”
Syria expressed its “full solidarity in the face of the terrorist attacks and shameful plots” directed, in its opinion, against its Iranian ally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the attack as “shocking in its cruelty and cynicism.” And António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, as well as the European Union, France, Germany, Jordan and Saudi Arabia condemned the attack.
With AFP
#Islamic #State #group #claimed #responsibility #double #attack #left #dead #Iran
