At least 73 dead in blasts at memorial for
assassinated Iranian commander
Reports of between two and four explosions at ceremony
marking fourth anniversary of killing of top general Qassem Suleimani
Patrick
Wintour, Diplomatic editor
Wed 3 Jan
2024 13.24 GMT
Two
explosions have killed at least 73 people and injured scores more at a memorial
ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the US killing of Qassem
Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force and one of the most powerful men in
the Middle East.
A senior
official called the blasts a “terroristic” attack, without elaborating on who
could be behind them.
Eyewitness
reports spoke of two explosions 10 minutes apart in the south-central city of
Kerman, while some reports spoke of four different explosions, suggesting that
the incident was a highly sophisticated attack.
State-run
media in Iran cited Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for the country’s
emergency service, as saying 73 people had been killed and 170 wounded.
Initially,
local officials said it was not known if the explosions were owing to gas
canisters, or suicide bombers. Later officials said the explosions occurred in
two bombs that were detonated remotely, and classified the incident as
terrorism.
The blasts
occurred on the roads leading to Golzar Shohada, the Garden of Martyrs cemetery
in Kerman. Suleimani’s body is buried in the cemetery along with 1,024 other
people regarded as martyrs, and the site has become a place of pilgrimage for
supporters of the so-called “axis of resistance” against the US and the west.
Suleimani
was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 and was seen as the leader
directing Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria.
Suicide
attacks are uncommon in Iran, and it was not immediately clear if the apparent
attack was a result of an domestic group or a group directed by Israel.
Iran only
recently said it had eradicated a group backed by the Mossad, the Israeli state
secret service.
On 25
December, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a top commander of Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), prompting Tehran to threaten that
Israel would “certainly pay” for its actions.
Iranian
state media identified the commander as Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser of the
Quds Force, saying he had been killed in an airstrike near the Syrian capital,
Damascus.
Israel has
in the past carried out the targeted assassinations of nuclear scientists
involved in Iran’s nuclear programme.
Hospitals
in Kerman and surrounding areas have been put on alert to treat the injured.
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