MORE THAN 70 KILLED’ IN EXPLOSIONS NEAR TOMB OF QASSEM SOLEIMANI DURING CEREMONY

Wed 03 January 2024:

Hundreds of people been reported killed and injured in explosions in the vicinity of the cemetery of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general Qassem Soleimani in the Iranian city of Kerman during a ceremony marking his fourth death anniversary.

Iranian media reports said two explosions were heard on Wednesday afternoon near the burial place of Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike. Officials have blamed a terrorist attack.

Videos showed ambulances arriving at the scene and taking away apparently injured people on stretchers.

A local official says more than 70 people have been killed at a cemetery in Iran where a ceremony was being held to mark the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top commander Qassem Soleimani, the Reuters news agency has reported.

Earlier, Jafar Miadfar, the head of Iran’s National Medical Emergency Organisation told Tasnim that at least 53 people have been killed and 71 injured, with some hurt after being trampled in the pandemonium following the explosions.

“Our rapid response teams are evacuating the injured … But there are waves of crowds blocking roads,” Reza Fallah, head of the Kerman province Red Crescent, told state TV.

#BREAKING At least 20 Iranian people have been killed and several others injured after two explosions hit areas close to the cemetery where former IRGC-QF Chief Qassem Soleimani is buried, Iran’s state TV reported.
A provincial security official says it’s not yet clear if it was… https://t.co/HNRX88YZ6C pic.twitter.com/A6MiSTvMAn

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) January 3, 2024

The cause of the explosions has not been confirmed, but officials are pointing at terrorism.

Kerman security chief Rahman Jalali confirmed to state media that “the blasts were caused by terrorist attacks.”

Tasnim reports that two briefcases loaded with explosives were placed at the entrance of the cemetery and were then denoted remotely. The news agency adds that “the number of martyrs will likely be higher than 50 people”.

⚡️Scenes of Iranian civilians murdered by a terrorist attack during the commemoration of the martyrdom of Qassem Soleimani today pic.twitter.com/COcAuBjKb9

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) January 3, 2024

Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC and main architect of Iran’s regional influence, was hit by a drone strike claimed by the United States shortly after touching down in Baghdad on January 3, 2020. Then US President Donald Trump ordered Soleimani killed, saying he was planning an “imminent” attack on US military personnel in the Iraqi capital.

The incident comes a day after Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a drone strike in Beirut, which Lebanese authorities attributed to Israel. Iran condemned the killing saying it could “ignite another surge in the veins of resistance and the motivation to fight against the Zionist occupiers”.

Last month, an Israeli air strike outside the Syrian capital of Damascus killed Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser in IRGC.

The first explosion took place 700 metres from Soleimani’s grave; the second one kilometre away, suggesting that the explosive packages did not have to pass any security gates.

This corresponds with videos showing the general’s grave itself was untouched, and means the explosions were not located in the busiest parts of the cemetery.

In more than two decades at the head of the IRGC’s Quds forces, Soleimani managed to create a loose but effective coalition of forces spanning from Yemen to Lebanon, all with domestic interest but united in their enmity towards Israel and the US.

Having served in Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Soleimani became one of the country’s top commanders, often touted as Iran’s second most powerful figure, behind only Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei,

Soleimani was regarded as the mastermind of Iran’s military operations in Iraq and Syria.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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