More than a hundred people were killed in a double attack near the city this Wednesday Cemetery in Kerman Province (South) in which he is buried Qasem SoleimaniChief of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force, was killed in a United States bombing in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in January 2020.
The Kerman emergency room has announced that there are confirmed cases so far 103 dead and 141 injuredAlthough there are fears that the number of victims could rise in the coming hours, as reported by the Iranian news agency IRNA.
The first explosion occurred about 700 meters from Soleimani's gravewhich is located in the Garden of the Martyrs, while the second took place a few minutes later in a nearby area during an event to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Soleimani, who died on January 3, 2020 as a result of the aforementioned US attack.
This is indicated by sources quoted by the Iranian news agency Tasnim The explosives were contained in several bags left in the areaThey were then activated remotely, although no group has currently claimed responsibility for the double attack.
The deputy governor of Kerman, Rahman Yalali, has stated that it was one Terrorist attack, without providing any further details. Iranian authorities have also closed the area to facilitate rescue efforts and investigation of the crime scene. Iranian security forces have therefore increased their presence in the blast area, where numerous ambulances have also been sent to treat the victims and transfer the injured to hospitals in the city.
Rallies in memory of Soleimani
Thousands of people gathered in the city to remember Soleimani, one of the victims of a US drone strike. Among the dead was also Abu Mahdi al Muhandisat the time “number two” of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – an Iran-backed coalition of Iraqi pro-government militias.
On December 6, an Iranian court ordered the US government and other institutions and individuals in the North American country to pay around $50 billion (more than €46 billion) for the death of Soleimani, after issuing dozens of arrest warrants for high-ranking US officials had issued by officials, including the former president Donald Trump.
The death of Mousavi, a senior official in the Iranian Guard
The event in Kerman will also take place after the death on December 25th Razi Mousavia senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard official, in an Israeli bomb attack on the Syrian capital Damascus, amid rising tensions in the region due to the conflict sparked by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) following the October 7 attacks.
Mousavi was a key figure in military coordination between Iran and Syria and according to Tehran, he carried out advisory activities on the subject in Damascus. The mission was launched in 2014 and was led by Soleimani at the time. Iranian authorities described the mission as an operation to combat the Islamic State jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.