DUBAI: Two explosions caused by ‘terrorist attacks’ killed more than 100 people and wounded scores at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate top commander Qassem Soleimani who was killed by a US drone in 2020, Iranian officials said on Wednesday.
Iranian state television reported a first and then a second blast during an anniversary event at a cemetery where Soleimani is buried in the southeastern city of Kerman. Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for Iran’s emergency services, was reported as saying 73 people had been killed and 170 injured. The state television later said that at least 100 people had been killed. No group has yet claimed responsibility.
Videos aired by Iranian media showed dozens of bodies strewn around with some bystanders trying to attend to survivors and others hurrying to leave the blast area.
Red Crescent rescuers tended to wounded people at the ceremony, where hundreds of Iranians had gathered to mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s death. The US assassination of Soleimani in a drone attack at Baghdad airport and Tehran’s retaliation by attacking two Iraq military bases that house US troops brought the US and Iran close to full-blown conflict in 2020.
As chief commander of the elite Quds force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Soleimani ran clandestine operations in foreign countries and was a key figure in Iran’s long-standing campaign to drive the US forces out of the Middle East.