At least 73 people have been killed and 170 wounded after two explosions rocked a ceremony that was being held to mark the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone attack.
The first explosion was quickly followed by a second close to a cemetery in the southeastern city of Kerman where thousands had gathered to mark the four-year anniversary of Soleimani’s killing.
Harrowing video showed scores of bloodied victims lying on the floor as others stumbled away from the blast scene close to the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque where Soleimani is buried in what Iran has described as a ‘terrorist attack’.
While it’s not clear who was behind the blasts, the explosions came a day after an Israeli drone strike killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon’s capital Beirut amid fears war could soon spiral across the Middle East.
Video showed plumes of smoke rising up into the sky as thousands of people who had been walking towards the cemetery screamed in horror. The crowd were seen running away after the two explosions ripped through Kerman.
Thousands had gathered to mark the four-year anniversary of the ruthless commander’s assassination when the explosions erupted near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque.
Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for Iran’s emergency services, told state media that 73 people had been killed and 170 injured but there are fears the death toll will rise.
Video showed plumes of smoke rising up into the sky as thousands of people who had been walking towards the cemetery to mark Soleimani’s assassination screamed in horror
A group of men stand around the bodies of the victims killed in the two blasts in Kerman today
Thousands had gathered to mark the four-year anniversary of the ruthless commander’s assassination when the explosions erupted near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque
The first explosion was quickly followed by a second close to a cemetery in the southeastern city of Kerman where thousands had gathered to mark the four-year anniversary of Soleimani’s (file image) killing
Mystery surrounds who is behind today’s blasts, but they came less than 24 hours after an Israeli drone strike killed Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously vowed to cut ‘the head off the snake’ and launch a military attack against Iran after Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is backed by Tehran, fired rockets at Israel.
And now, Rahman Jalali, the deputy governor of Kerman province where Soleimani is buried, said today’s blasts were a ‘terrorist attack’ without elaborating on who could be behind them.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the blasts, but Iran Newspaper reported that two bags filled with explosives were detonated remotely in the middle of a crowd.
Several people were also injured in a stampede as they tried to flee the carnage, with several ambulances rushing to the scene.
But rescuers told how they were delayed in rushing the wounded to hospital due to the huge crowds blocking the roads.
‘Our rapid response teams are evacuating the injured… But there are waves of crowds blocking roads,’ Reza Fallah, head of the Kerman province Red Crescent rescuers told state TV.
Thousands had gathered in the city to pay their respects to Soleimani, who was killed in a US strike at Baghdad International Airport in neighbouring Iraq in 2020.
Soleimani was responsible for shaping Iran’s foreign policy throughout the Middle East and was revered and loved in his homeland.
However, to American officials, he represented a deadly foe during the Iraq War, one who helped arm militants with penetrating roadside bombs that killed and maimed US troops.
Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, was credited with helping to arm, train and lead armed groups across the region, including the Shiite militias in Iraq, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and fighters in Syria, the Palestinian territories and Yemen.
Iran has multiple foes who could be behind the assault, including exile groups, militant organisations and state actors. Iran has supported Hamas as well as the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Last night, an Israeli drone strike on Hamas’ offices in Beirut killed four of the terror group’s members including Arouri, its deputy political leader.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill al-Arouri, who headed the organisation in the West Bank and helped to found the group’s armed wing, even before Hamas launched its bloody October 7 attack.
Israeli officials last vowed that all Hamas leaders ‘are doomed to death’, but declined to comment on whether their forces had carried out the Beirut attack.
Arouri, 57, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated since Israel launched a brutal air and ground offensive against the group almost three months ago on the heels of the ruthless October 7 attacks.
Arouri was one of the most influential in Hamas and was residing in Beirut’s southern suburbs under the protection of Hezbollah until his death following an Israeli strike
Lebanon’s heavily armed Hezbollah group, a powerful Hamas ally, previously vowed to strike back against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon, and said of last night’s attack: ‘This crime will never pass without response and punishment.’
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati also condemned the killing, declaring Israel ‘aims to draw Lebanon’ further into the war.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire almost daily over the Israeli-Lebanese border since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began, but so far the Lebanese group has appeared reluctant to dramatically escalate the fighting.
A significant response now could send the conflict spiralling into all-out war on Israel’s northern border.
And today, Israeli forces continued to pummel Lebanon with strikes in a bid to target Hezbollah militants, who are backed by Iran.
Who was Qasem Soleimani, Iranian general killed by US airstrike?
Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed Friday in a US strike, was one of the most popular figures in Iran and seen as a deadly adversary by America and its allies.
General Soleimani, who headed the external operations Quds Force for the Guards, had wielded his regional clout publicly since 2018 when it was revealed that he had direct involvement in top-level talks over the formation of Iraq’s government.
It was no surprise at the time for a man who has been at the centre of power-broking in the region for two decades.
Soleimani has been in and out of Baghdad ever since, most recently last month as parties sought to form a new government.
Where once he kept to the shadows, Soleimani has in recent years become an unlikely celebrity in Iran — replete with a huge following on Instagram.
Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani (center) ‘was personally the most popular regime figure in Iran’ said one expert on Middle East affairs
His profile rose suddenly when he was pushed forward as the public face of Iran’s intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries — and even being featured in a music video and animated film.
In a rare interview aired on Iranian state television in October, he said he was in Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war to oversee the conflict.
To his fans and enemies alike, Soleimani was the key architect of Iran’s regional influence, leading the fight against jihadist forces and extending Iran’s diplomatic heft in Iraq, Syria and beyond.
‘To Middle Eastern Shiites, he is James Bond, Erwin Rommel and Lady Gaga rolled into one,’ wrote former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack in a profile for Time’s 100 most influential people in 2017.
‘To the West, he is… responsible for exporting Iran’s Islamic revolution, supporting terrorists, subverting pro-Western governments and waging Iran’s foreign wars,’ Pollack added.
With Iran roiled by protests and economic problems at home, and the US once again mounting pressure from the outside, some Iranians had even called for Soleimani to enter domestic politics.
While he has dismissed rumours he might one day run for president, the general has played a decisive role in the politics of Iran’s neighbour, Iraq.
As well as talks on forming a government, he was pivotal in pressuring Iraq’s Kurds to abandon their plans for independence after an ill-judged referendum last September.
Soleimani was key military decision-maker in Iran
His influence has deep roots, since Soleimani was already leading the Quds Force when the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
‘My Iranian interlocutors on Afghanistan made clear that while they kept the foreign ministry informed, ultimately it was General Soleimani that would make the decisions,’ former US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker told the BBC in 2013.
His firm but quiet presence play perfectly to the Iranian penchant for dignified humility.
‘He sits over there on the other side of room, by himself, in a very quiet way. Doesn’t speak, doesn’t comment, just sits and listens. And so of course everyone is thinking only about him,’ a senior Iraqi official told the New Yorker for a long profile of Soleimani.
A survey published in 2018 by IranPoll and the University of Maryland — one of the few considered reliable by analysts — found Soleimani had a popularity rating of 83 percent, beating President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Western leaders saw him as central to Iran’s ties with militia groups including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas.
Part of his appeal was the suggestion he might bridge Iran’s bitter social divides on issues such as its strict ‘hijab’ clothing rules.
‘If we constantly use terms such as ‘bad hijab’ and ‘good hijab’, reformist or conservative… then who is left?’ Soleimani said in a speech to mark World Mosque Day in 2017.
‘They are all people. Are all your children religious? Is everybody the same? No, but the father attracts all of them.’
-AFP