Final 12 months’s assault, for which two folks convicted of being linked with ISIL have been executed, left 13 useless and 40 injured.
Tehran, Iran – A holy shrine in Iran’s southern metropolis of Shiraz has come below a second lethal assault in lower than a 12 months with gunmen breaking into its grounds and opening hearth.
Particulars have but to be confirmed, however officers and state-linked media mentioned two folks entered the Shah Cheragh shrine by means of its southern gate on Sunday at 7pm (15:30 GMT) and began capturing at safety employees and worshippers, killing not less than one particular person and wounding a number of others.
Yadollah Bouali, the provincial commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), instructed state tv one shooter was arrested on the scene with an assault rifle and eight magazines stuffed with ammunition. The second gunman fled the scene.
Movies on-line confirmed folks operating in panic exterior the shrine and shutting down their retailers. Photos confirmed bullet holes in partitions and eyeglasses and blood on the bottom.
The shrine, situated within the province of Fars and probably the most vital in Shia Islam, was hit by an identical assault on October 26, 2022.
On the time, a lone gunman entered the shrine with an automated rifle, shooting a group of pilgrims and staff. Authorities mentioned the gunman killed 13 folks and injured 40 others earlier than being killed by safety forces.
The ISIL (ISIS) armed group launched a video by means of its Amaq web site and took accountability for the assault.
The group was additionally liable for coordinated 2017 assaults on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of former Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran.
In early June, Iran executed two men mentioned to have been involved with ISIL operatives in neighbouring Afghanistan who offered the gunman with the rifle and took him to the location of the capturing.
Three extra males have been additionally tried and given jail sentences starting from 5 to 25 years for working with the armed group.
Final 12 months’s assault on the shrine additionally got here as Iran was rocked by nationwide protests that began in September 2022 following the dying in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for alleged noncompliance with the nation’s necessary gown code for ladies.
It passed off 40 days after Amini’s dying, when thousands gathered to mark the event in her hometown in northwestern Iran.
Iranian authorities, who blamed “riots” backed by foreign powers for undermining the nation’s safety, mentioned on the time that the unrest paved the way in which for the Shah Cheragh assault to happen.