Iranians are marking a day of mourning after bombings killed at least 84 people and injured more than 280.
Iranians have been marking a day of mourning after two bomb attacks in the city of Kerman killed and injured many people at a memorial to top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, four years after his assassination, raising concerns. tensions in the region.
At least 84 people were killed in the explosions, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Thursday, according to state news agency IRNA.
An earlier death toll of 103 was revised downwards twice after officials realized that some names had been repeated on the list of victims and because the bodies had been dismembered and counted “several times,” Jafar Miadfar said. , head of Iran’s emergency services.
More than 280 people were injured in Wednesday’s attacks and 195 are still hospitalized.
No one has claimed responsibility for what appeared to be the deadliest attack on Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
The explosions occurred minutes apart and rocked Kerman, about 820 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran. The second explosion sent shrapnel into a screaming crowd fleeing the first explosion.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said the mood in the country was one of confusion, and many had questions about what exactly happened.
“There is no clear answer… whether it was a suicide attack or whether the bombs were planted,” Hashem said Thursday. “Of course, the main suspects here in Iran for Iranian officials are the United States and Israel.”
The commemoration marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) elite Quds Force, in a US drone strike in Iraq ordered by then-President Donald Trump. The explosions took place near his grave as long lines of people gathered for the event.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who canceled his planned trip to Turkey, declared Thursday a day of national mourning to pay tribute to those killed in the attacks.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said US officials had “no reason” to believe Israel was involved in the attack.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the attack on the country’s “evil and criminal enemies” and promised a “tough response.”
“These hard-hearted criminals could not tolerate the love and enthusiasm that people had when visiting the shrine of their great commander, Qassem Soleimani,” Khamenei said in a statement.
“Let them know that Soleimani’s soldiers will not tolerate their vileness and crimes.”
The United Nations, the European Union and several countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Iraq, denounced the attacks.
The attacks came a day after the killing of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of the Iran-allied Palestinian armed group Hamas, in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital Beirut, raising fears of further escalation in the region. following the start of Israel’s war in Gaza on October 7.
