The assault hit the Shah Cheragh Shrine within the southern Iranian metropolis of Shiraz, with at the least two kids killed.
At the very least 15 folks have been killed and 40 others injured in an assault on a Shia spiritual shrine within the southern Iranian metropolis of Shiraz, in accordance with the nation’s state media company, IRNA.
The report stated that the assault, which befell on the Shah Cheragh Shrine early on Wednesday night, was carried out by three armed males who entered the shrine.
Two of the attackers have been caught, with one nonetheless on the run.
ISIL (ISIS) claimed duty for the assault in an announcement on their telegram channel.
Nour information, a media outlet affiliated with the Iranian state, had earlier reported that the attackers weren’t Iranian nationals.
The Fars Information Company stated that one girl and two kids have been amongst these killed in Shiraz.
“We have been getting ready for prayers after which we heard the gunshots, we tried to flee from the opposite aspect after which I realised I used to be bleeding,” a witness and survivor of the assault instructed Al Jazeera.
“I couldn’t see who was taking pictures … It began from the road after which they got here in direction of the shrine they usually shot whoever they noticed. I noticed some injured and killed, however I didn’t see the attackers,” he stated.
Fouad Izadi, an affiliate professor within the School of World Research on the College of Tehran, stated the goal of the taking pictures was to “assault worshippers”.
“That is an ISIS trademark – they assault mosques, they assault shrines,” Izadi stated.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, stated that the shrine was an necessary web site for spiritual pilgrims.
Shiraz is a well-liked vacation spot for pilgrimages and tourism, and the final such assault to happen within the metropolis was in April 2008, when a bomb planted in a mosque killed 14 folks.
“This can be a very uncommon incident to be going down at a vital time in Iran, when safety is at excessive alert given the variety of protests which were going down throughout the nation,” Jabbari stated.
Wednesday’s assault comes as Iran continues to face protests for the reason that September loss of life of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who died after she was detained by the nation’s morality police for sporting “improper hijab”.
Wednesday marked 40 days since Amini died, and noticed 1000’s of individuals collect in Amini’s hometown within the northwest of Iran.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi stated the assault in Shiraz wouldn’t go unanswered, in accordance with the semiofficial Tasnim information company.
“Expertise exhibits that Iran’s enemies, after failing to create a cut up within the nation’s united ranks, take revenge by violence and terror. This evil will certainly not go unanswered, and the safety and legislation enforcement companies will educate a lesson to those that designed the assault,” Raisi stated.
Tasnim reported that one of many attackers on Wednesday shot an worker on the shrine entrance earlier than his rifle jammed and he was chased by bystanders. The attacker managed to repair his gun after which opened hearth on his pursuers, earlier than coming into a courtyard and taking pictures worshippers. A number of girls and youngsters have been among the many useless, the information company stated.
Iran in June hanged a Sunni who was sentenced to loss of life for killing two Shia clerics and wounding one other in early April, the judiciary stated on the time.
A 21-year-old nationwide of Uzbek origin carried out the April 5 stabbing assault on the Imam Reza shrine, which honours some of the revered figures in Shia Islam.
The killings occurred through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when giant crowds of worshippers had gathered on the shrine, in Iran’s second-largest metropolis Mashhad.