Ninety-one people have died in a bombing strike in southern Iran that was claimed by the Islamic State group, according to state media on Saturday. The previous death toll was raised after two victims died from their wounds.
A memorial service held close to the tomb of Qasem Soleimani, a senior Revolutionary Guards general slain in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020, was disrupted by two explosions that occurred in Kerman on Wednesday.
“The death toll from the terrorist incident reached 91 after two people, including a child, hospitalised in intensive care, succumbed to their injuries,” official news agency IRNA quoted a local health official as saying.
According to AFP archives, the incident is the bloodiest to have occurred in Iran since 1978, when arson murdered over 370 people who were stranded at a movie theater in Abadan, southwest of the nation.
Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on Thursday claimed responsibility for the blasts. A statement said two of IS members had “activated their explosive belts” in the middle of “a large gathering of apostates, near the grave of their leader”.
The Iranian intelligence ministry said on Friday that “one of the suicide bombers” was “of Tajik nationality”, while the identity of the second attacker has not yet been established.
According to the ministry, six Iranian regions have seen the arrest of at least 11 suspects in connection with the attack.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and General Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, attended the victims’ funerals on Saturday in Kerman.
Prior to his passing, Soleimani oversaw the Quds Force, the Guards’ branch responsible for international operations. In his home nation, he is praised for his contributions to the battle against IS in both neighboring Iraq and Syria.
