Fifteen dead in attack on Shiite shrine in Iran

Regional Attorney General Kazem Mousavi told state television, “He was the only terrorist involved in this attack.”

Attackers “shot indiscriminately at believers” who had gathered at the shrine, local governor Mohammad Hadi Imaniye told the station.

Witnesses told the state news agency IRNA that “women could be heard screaming” as the evening prayers began and that “the attackers entered the shrine and opened fire”.

Iranian media have released images and video footage of bloodied bodies covered in sheets lying inside a shrine.

IRNA posted a photo of a boy on a stretcher and a woman holding a child, with blood stains on the floor.

Iran’s Fars news agency said among those killed included a woman and her two children.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

– ‘Serious reaction’ –

Shah Sheragh’s mausoleum, which houses the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite imam, is considered the holiest site in southern Iran. I’m here.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi promised “severe response”.

In a statement released by his office, he also accused “Iran’s enemies” of “trying to divide the united classes of the state through violence and terror.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the holy shrine of Shah Kherag,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

“Such actions targeting religious sites are particularly despicable,” she added.

“The Secretary-General stresses the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime against civilians exercising their right to practice their religion.” After being arrested by the moral police on suspicion, he was shaken by street protests. Strict dress code for women.

Dozens died during the riots, mainly protesters but also security forces personnel. Hundreds of people, including women, were arrested.

State television reported arrests related to the shrine attack, saying the attackers were “terrorists associated with the takfiri group.”

The term takfiri in Iran and some other countries refers to radical Sunni Islamist groups.

– Fatal attack on shrine –

This year’s attack on a Shiite shrine in Iran was the second deadliest.

In April, a 21-year-old man from Uzbekistan stabbed two Shia cleric at the Reza temple, an imam dedicated to him, one of Shia Islam’s most revered figures. , already wounded one of his.

The killing occurred during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when a large number of worshipers gathered at a temple in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city.

The attacker stabbed one of his victims 20 times, Tasnim news agency reported.

The young man, identified by Iranian authorities as a Sunni extremist, was sentenced to death and hanged in June.

The attack came days after two Sunni cleric were shot dead outside his Kavs seminary in Gonbadye, northern Iran.

His three suspects in the case, who were arrested at the end of April, are said to have “no connection to a terrorist group,” state media reported at the time. Wednesday’s attack was also the deadliest since 27 of his members of Iran’s ideological armed forces, the Revolutionary Guard, were killed in February 2019 in an attack in the country’s southeast.

And in 2018, he killed 24 people in an attack in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran. ISIS claimed the attack even though Iran blamed separatist groups.

IS claims to have carried out its first attack in Iran in 2017, when gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Tehran’s parliament and the mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,17 People died and dozens were injured.

Regional Attorney General Kazem Mousavi told state television, “He was the only terrorist involved in this attack.”

Attackers “shot indiscriminately at believers” who had gathered at the shrine, local governor Mohammad Hadi Imaniye told the station.

Witnesses told the state news agency IRNA that “women could be heard screaming” as the evening prayers began and that “the attackers entered the shrine and opened fire”.

Iranian media have released images and video footage of bloodied bodies covered in sheets lying inside a shrine.

IRNA posted a photo of a boy on a stretcher and a woman holding a child, with blood stains on the floor.

Iran’s Fars news agency said among those killed included a woman and her two children.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

– ‘Serious reaction’ –

Shah Sheragh’s mausoleum, which houses the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite imam, is considered the holiest site in southern Iran. I’m here.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi promised “severe response”.

In a statement released by his office, he also accused “Iran’s enemies” of “trying to divide the united classes of the state through violence and terror.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the holy shrine of Shah Kherag,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

“Such actions targeting religious sites are particularly despicable,” she added.

“The Secretary-General stresses the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime against civilians exercising their right to practice their religion.” After being arrested by the moral police on suspicion, he was shaken by street protests. Strict dress code for women.

Dozens died during the riots, mainly protesters but also security forces personnel. Hundreds of people, including women, were arrested.

State television reported arrests related to the shrine attack, saying the attackers were “terrorists associated with the takfiri group.”

The term takfiri in Iran and some other countries refers to radical Sunni Islamist groups.

– Fatal attack on shrine –

This year’s attack on a Shiite shrine in Iran was the second deadliest.

In April, a 21-year-old man from Uzbekistan stabbed two Shia cleric at the Reza temple, an imam dedicated to him, one of Shia Islam’s most revered figures. , already wounded one of his.

The killing occurred during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when a large number of worshipers gathered at a temple in Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city.

The attacker stabbed one of his victims 20 times, Tasnim news agency reported.

The young man, identified by Iranian authorities as a Sunni extremist, was sentenced to death and hanged in June.

The attack came days after two Sunni cleric were shot dead outside his Kavs seminary in Gonbadye, northern Iran.

His three suspects in the case, who were arrested at the end of April, are said to have “no connection to a terrorist group,” state media reported at the time. Wednesday’s attack was also the deadliest since 27 of his members of Iran’s ideological armed forces, the Revolutionary Guard, were killed in February 2019 in an attack in the country’s southeast.

And in 2018, he killed 24 people in an attack in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran. ISIS claimed the attack even though Iran blamed separatist groups.

IS claims to have carried out its first attack in Iran in 2017, when gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Tehran’s parliament and the mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,17 People died and dozens were injured.