Iran

Islamic State Takes Responsibility for Deadly Bombings in Iran

Author: Vivian Yee, Hwaida Saad and Eric Schmitt Source: N.Y Times
January 4, 2024 at 13:45
A photo released by Iran’s state-run news media on Wednesday of the site of the explosions in the city of Kerman.Credit...Sare Tajalli/ISNA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A photo released by Iran’s state-run news media on Wednesday of the site of the explosions in the city of Kerman.Credit...Sare Tajalli/ISNA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The Islamic State announcement dovetailed with American intelligence assessments indicating that the attack was most likely the work of the group.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for the bombing attack that killed 84 people in Kerman, Iran, a day before, during a memorial procession for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, according to a post on the extremist group’s official Telegram account.

The extremist group called the attack a “dual martyrdom operation,” and described how two militants approached a ceremony at the tomb of General Suleimani and detonated explosive belts strapped to their bodies “near the grave of the hypocrite leader.”

The general, a widely revered and feared Iranian military officer who was the architect of an Iranian-led and -funded alliance of Shiite groups across the Middle East, was assassinated four years ago in an American drone attack.

The Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim organization, considers its mission to kill apostate Muslims, including Shiites. Iran, a majority-Shiite country, is led by a theocratic government in which Shiite clerics are in charge.

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