CNN
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At the very least 15 individuals have been killed and 40 others have been injured Wednesday in a “terrorist assault” on the Shahcheragh Shrine within the metropolis of Shiraz, southern Iran, in accordance with state-run media and Iranian officers.
Two youngsters have been among the many victims, in accordance with state-run Press TV.
Iranian safety forces have arrested two of the suspected attackers, and a manhunt is underway to seize a 3rd, state information stated.
The fear group ISIS has claimed accountability for the assault, releasing a press release by way of its affiliated Amaq information company that stated certainly one of its members had “focused teams of Sunni refusal infidels contained in the shrine together with his machine gun, inflicting the loss of life of tens of them.”
Nour Information Company, which is affiliated with Iran’s high safety physique, stated the suspects have been international nationals.
Wednesday night is among the busiest occasions for the shrine, reported the state-run IRNA, and eyewitnesses stated an attacker was in a automobile earlier than concentrating on worshippers at its entrance.
The governor of Fars province stated that “the terrorist first focused the servant and guard of the shrine, and meant to assault the congregational night prayers, however one of many servants shut the door on him,” state information stated quoting the governor.
“Loud screams have been heard within the girls’s part of the shrine on the time of adhan [the call for prayer] and all of the sudden an armed man was noticed with a Kalashnikov firing indiscriminately within the compound of the shrine,” an eyewitness informed state media.
“After the preliminary burst of fireside, the attacker went close to the shrine and fired many rounds at these current on the scene,” the eyewitness added.
The assault occurred on the identical day that clashes broke out all through Iran as 1000’s of individuals got here to the burial website of Mahsa Amini in Saqqez, a metropolis within the Kurdistan province, to mark 40 days since her loss of life, semi-official Iranian state information company ISNA stated. It’s unclear if the assault was associated to the protests.
Protests have swept by way of the Islamic Republic following the loss of life of the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian lady, who died on September 16 after being detained by “morality police” and brought to a “re-education heart,” allegedly for not abiding by the nation’s conservative costume code.