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Dozens Killed In Iran Military Parade: Arab Group Takes Responsibility For Attack

by 4 weeks agono comment

The death toll in the Iran military parade attack has risen to 24 (update: 29), according to the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

State media said gunmen opened fire at the event in the southwest city of Ahvaz on September 22.

State television said the assault targeted a stand where Iranian officials were gathered to watch an annual event marking the start of the country’s 1980-88 war with Iraq.

An anti-government ethnic Arab group has taken responsibility in an interview with Radio Farda.

Yaghub Hur Totsari, spokesman for one of the two groups that identify themselves as the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, said the Ahvaz National Resistance, an umbrella organization of all armed movements.

He said that this was an act against “the oppression” of the Iranian government.

An Iranian military spokesman claimed the gunmen were trained by two Gulf Arab states and had ties to the United States and Israel.

“These terrorists… were trained and organised by two … Gulf countries,” Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told the official news agency IRNA.

“They are not from Daesh (Islamic State) or other groups fighting (Iran’s) Islamic system … but they are linked to America and (Israel’s intelligence agency) Mossad.”

There were conflicting reports on the number killed in the attack.

The official IRNA news agency said three people were killed, including two attackers. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency said at least eight members of the elite Revolutionary Guards had been killed.

IRNA said two alleged attackers had been detained.

Earlier, IRNA said a woman and a child were wounded in the attack.

Earlier reports described the attackers as “Takfiri gunmen,” a term used in the past to describe Sunni Muslim militants.

The semiofficial Fars news agency said two gunmen on a motorcycle wearing khaki uniforms carried out the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the attackers were “terrorists recruited, trained, armed and paid by a foreign regime,” but did not elaborate.

He blamed regional countries and their “US masters” for the attack, adding that Iran would respond “swiftly and decisively.

Ahvaz is the capital of Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan Province. The province in the past has seen Arab separatists attack oil pipelines.

ISNA said an unnamed spokesman for the elite Revolutionary Guards security force blamed Arab nationalists backed by Saudi Arabia for the attack.

Tensions between traditional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have increased in recent years, with the two countries supporting opposite sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and rival political parties in Iraq and Lebanon.

Attacks on the military are rare in Iran.

Last year, in the first deadly attack claimed by Islamic State in Tehran, 18 people were killed at the parliament and at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder and first leader of the Islamic Republic.

Updates & Photos:

3:33 PM PT: Announcing the attack before carrying it out

3:32 PM PT: Youngest victim of the Ahvaz terror attack: 

3:27 PM PT: After attack in Iran, the U.S. offers a muted response (WashPo analysis)

3:10 PM PT: Ahvaz Parade Attack Terrorists Trained In Two Persian Gulf Littoral States

3:01 PM PT: Turkey offers condolences after terror attack kills, injures dozens in Iran

3:00 PM PT: UK minister Alistair Burt condemns Ahvaz terror attack

12:31 PM PT: White House National Security Council issues statement

9:55 AM PT: Silence.

9:34 AM PT: Iran’s Khamenei says attack on military parade is linked to U.S. allies via Reuters

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that an attack on a military parade in southwestern Iran was linked to the United States’ “allies in the region” and ordered security forces to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“This crime is a continuation of the plots of the regional states that are puppets of the United States, and their goal is to create insecurity in our dear country,” Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.

He did not name the states, but U.S. allies in the region include Iran’s arch-foe Israel and also the Arab Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia.

9:32 AM PT: Survivor

8:30 AM PT: Condemnations by NIAC and the Iranian Canadian Congress

8:14 AM PT: Oman condemns terror attack on military parade in Iran via Oman Daily Observer

8:08 AM PT: Iranian Army Spokesman: Ahvaz Military Parade Attackers Linked To US, Israel

Iranian Army Spokesman: Ahvaz Military Parade Attackers Linked To US, Israel

7:54 AM PT: One of the victims was a war vet in a wheelchair

7:45 AM PT: Death toll climbs to 29. 60 injured. Via Al Arabiya

7:36 AM PT: How Western media is covering this heinous act of terror

7:34 AM PT: Iranians rallying to support victims

7:32 AM PT: Who was responsible?

7:25 AM PT: “A four-year-old girl and a wheelchair-bound war veteran were among the dead.” Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran’s armed forces told state television.

7:24 AM PT: “The attacks are doubtlessly meant to tarnish the prestige of the IRGC, but I believe the terrorist incidents will strengthen the IRGC’s standing and even mobilize some public support,” said Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Washington-based Gulf Arab States Institute.

7:22 AM PT: “Rouhani will use the terrorist attack to justify Iran’s presence in the Middle East…The attack will strengthen the IRGC’s position inside Iran and in the region,” Tehran-based political analyst Hamid Farahvashian said, according to Reuters.

7:12 AM PT: Russia Ready to Help Iran against Terrorism, Putin Says after Ahvaz Parade Attack – via Radio Farda and  Tasnim News

President Putin voiced his country’s preparedness to assist Iran in the war against terrorism a few hours after a terrorist attack on a military parade in Iran’s southwestern city of Ahvaz.

“Please accept the deepest condolences regarding the tragic consequences of the raid by terrorists in Ahvaz. We are appalled by this bloody crime,” Putin wrote to Rouhani, according to the text of the telegram posted on the Kremlin website.

“We expect that everyone involved will face a deserved punishment,” Putin said. “This event once again reminds us about the necessity of an uncompromising battle against terrorism in all of its manifestations. I would like to confirm our readiness to continue building cooperation with Iranian partners in resisting this evil.”

6:59 AM PT: Iran says military parade attackers trained by two Gulf states – via Middle East Monitor

An Iranian military spokesman said the gunmen who on Saturday attacked a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz were trained by two Gulf Arab states and had ties to the United States and Israel, Reuters reports.

“These terrorists… were trained and organised by two … Gulf countries,” Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told the official news agency IRNA.

“They are not from Daesh (Islamic State) or other groups fighting (Iran’s) Islamic system … but they are linked to America and (Israel’s intelligence agency) Mossad.”

Iranian authorities “temporarily” shut down two border crossings with Iraq, according to an Iraqi customs official.

6:49 AM PT: Iran’s President Holds ‘Sponsors of Terrorists’ Accountable for Parade Attack – via Tasnim News

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the intelligence forces to capture perpetrators of a Saturday terrorist attack on a parade in Ahvaz, warning of Iran’s “crushing response” and pointing the finger at those providing intelligence support for terrorists.

Rouhani was briefed on the latest developments in the wake of this morning’s terrorist attack on a military parade in Ahvaz during telephone conversations with Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli and with Governor of Khuzestan Gholamreza Shariati.

Expressing sympathy with the families of victims of the fatal attack, the president ordered the Intelligence Ministry to mobilize all units to immediately detect the terrorists behind the attack and their links for a “decisive and exemplary” punishment.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s response to the merest threat will be crushing,” he underlined.

Rouhani also held those providing “propaganda and intelligence support” for the terrorists accountable for the attack.

During the military parade in Ahvaz on Saturday morning, Takfiri militants opened fired on military officials and ordinary people in the event. At least 25 people have died and 60 others injured in the terrorist attack.

A senior spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces said four terrorists were involved in the attack, noting that they had hidden their rifles in the parade venue beforehand.

Pictures and video added by The Iranian

A photojournalist takes a photo as she hits the dirt after an armed attack targeting a military march in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz on September 22, 2018. At least eight members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed and 20 people injured. ( Mehdi Pedramkhoo – Anadolu Agency )

Iranian security forces take security measures after an armed attack targeting a military march in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz on September 22, 2018. At least eight members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed and 20 people injured. ( Mehdi Pedramkhoo – Anadolu Agency )

People run away from the street after an armed attack targeting a military march in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz on September 22, 2018. ( Mehdi Pedramkhoo – Anadolu Agency )

Blood can be seen on the street after gunmen opened fire on a military parade in Ahvaz.

The attackers tried to shoot military officers on the podium

At least one child was injured in the attack

Soldiers ducked for cover as shots were fired

 

RFE/RL

RFE/RL journalists report the news in 23 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate.

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