Kinyarwanda
English
Iran: deadly double explosion near the grave of late Gen Qassem Soleimani
At least a hundred people were killed and several dozen injured in two explosions on Wednesday in Kerman, where a ceremony was taking place in memory of the former head of the al-Quds force, Qassem Souleimani. A toll quickly revised upwards and explosions were described as a “terrorist attack” by Iranian television.
A huge explosion was heard near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, where Qassem Soleimani's tomb is located, in his hometown of Kerman, in southern Iran, state television said, before adding that another explosion had sounded a few minutes later.
“The incident is a terrorist attack,” state television said, citing Rahman Jalali, deputy governor of Kerman province in southern Iran.
The toll is increasing by the hour, as reported by various media in Tehran.
The two explosions occurred during a ceremony to commemorate the memory of General Qassem Souleimani, the former head of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, who was assassinated by Americans in a strike led by drones very close to Baghdad airport. He was responsible for the Guardians' external operations, notably in Syria and Iraq.
This crowd had gathered in the city of Kerman, which was the hometown of Qassem Souleimani, and was going to his grave. According to official media, no one responsible is among the victims; this is what we have as information for the moment. The two bombs were activated, again according to local media, remotely.
General Souleimani played a leading role in the war in Syria to support President Assad's regime and fight the Islamic State group. He had also been on the front line to help and arm the Palestinian groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as well as Hezbollah and the Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.
The Iranian authorities will likely accuse Israel of being behind these attacks which occurred in Kerman, which could further aggravate the situation in the region.
The semi-official Nournews agency reported that several gas canisters had exploded on the road leading to the cemetery where the commemorative ceremony for the 3rd anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani was taking place. The latter, leader of the elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and Abu Mahdi al Mouhandis, commander of an Iraqi militia, were both killed in a strike against their convoy at Baghdad airport, on January 3, 2020.
At the time, President Donald Trump said that he ordered the strike in response to attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq. In response, Iran fired missiles at bases housing American soldiers in Iraq.
In early December 2023, an Iranian court ordered the US government to pay nearly $50 billion in damages for assassinating General Qassem Soleimani.
