Authorities updated on Saturday, January 7 the toll for the attack in Kerman, Iran. The bombing, claimed by the jihadist group Daesh, which occurred on January 3, targeted a ceremony in memory of General Qassem Suleimani.
A bombing attack in southern Iran claimed by the jihadist group Daesh has killed 91 people, state media said Saturday, raising an earlier toll after two victims had succumbed to their wounds.
On Wednesday, two explosions in Kerman targeted crowds attending a memorial ceremony near the tomb of Qassem Suleimani, a high-ranking general of the Revolutionary Guards who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.
“The death toll from the terrorist incident has climbed to 91, with two individuals, including a child who was hospitalized in intensive care, succumbing to their injuries,” reported the official news agency IRNA, citing a statement from a local health official.
The assault marks the deadliest attack in Iran since 1978 when arson claimed the lives of over 370 people who were trapped in a cinema in Abadan, located in the country’s southwest, according to AFP archives.
Daesh claimed on Thursday responsibility for the blasts. According to a statement, two members of the jihadist group had “activated their explosive belts” in the middle of “a large gathering of apostates, near the grave of their leader.”
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said on Friday that “one of the suicide bombers” was “of Tajik nationality,” while the identity of the second attacker has not yet been established.
At least 11 suspects have been arrested across 6 Iranian provinces over the attack, the ministry said.
The funerals of the victims took place on Saturday in Kerman, and they were attended by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and General Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Malo Pinatel, with AFP
