ISIS has taken credit for Wednesday’s double suicide bombing that killed at least 84 people at a ceremony honoring Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qassem Soleimani on the fourth anniversary of his death.
The fundamentalist terrorist group issued a Telegram statement Thursday taking credit for the massacre in the city of Kerman, which marked the Islamic Republic’s worst terror attack in decades as unrest spread across the Middle East.
Experts who confirmed the statement believe the extremists are trying to take advantage of the regional instability sparked by the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
They speculate that ISIS may be trying to widen Israel’s war in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip by targeting a ceremony honoring Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad in early 2020.
Wednesday’s attack also injured some 284 people who were paying their respects to the army chief. SARE TAJALLI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Wednesday’s attack also wounded about 284 people paying tribute to the army chief, who has commanded a network of militias that have targeted American troops during the long US occupation of Iraq.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed a “harsh response” to the blasts, one of which tore chunks of asphalt from a blood-soaked road – suggesting the explosives had been filled with shrapnel to cause greater damage.
“I don’t understand what happened, it happened so suddenly,” said Mohammad Mehdi Ghalekhani, a volunteer with the Basij Revolutionary Guards who was injured in the “horrific” attack.
ISIS has taken credit for Wednesday’s suicide bombings in Iran that killed at least 84 people. asnim News Agency via ZUMA / SplashNews.com
“When this happens many people die, and many people are injured. Those who died had no intact body parts – no whole hands or faces.”
ISIS identified the suicide bombers as Omar al-Mowahed and Seif-Allah al-Mujahed, adding that the pair detonated explosive vests.
Attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi rebels based in Yemen and suspected Israeli airstrikes on terror targets in Lebanon and Syria in recent days have added to regional unrest and empowered ISIS to launch its brutal attacks, experts said. suggest.
People gathered near the body lying on the ground at the scene of the blast. via REUTERS
“This is under the modus operandi of ISIS, especially because it’s a massive attack,” said Aaron Y. Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“They are one of a kind [comic book character] Comedian. They want to see the world burn. They don’t care how it happens as long as it benefits them.”
Iran indirectly blamed Israel for the attack, and did not immediately admit that ISIS was at fault.
In Kerman Thursday, residents trampled signs bearing the Israeli flag and the slogan “Death to Israel.”
A masked Islamic State soldier holds an ISIL banner in the desert. Photo from History Group/Universal Images via Getty Images
Iranian state media said an explosion occurred about a mile from Soleimani’s grave, outside the security perimeter. The second explosion occurred more than a mile and a half from the site.
“The moment I turned to tell my husband’s sister, ‘Let’s go to the square,’ the bomb exploded,” Mahdieh Sazmand, 38, said from her hospital bed.
“If we were just 10 steps away, we would be on top of the bomb.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
