According to official media, the Islamic State organization claimed responsibility for the attack on a significant Shia Muslim shrine in southern Iran on Wednesday, which claimed at least 15 lives.
At least 19 people were also hurt during the attack by an armed “terrorist” at the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in the city of Shiraz during evening prayers, according to state media.
According to earlier accounts, three attackers were responsible for the 13 fatalities and 40 injuries.
Kazem Mousavi, the head of the local judiciary, claimed on state television that “just one terrorist was involved in this attack.”
According to the local governor Mohammad-Hadi Imanieh, the attacker “fired indiscriminately on pilgrims” assembled at the site.
As evening prayers began, a witness claimed he “heard the sobs of women” and that the “assailant entered the temple and opened firing.”
Images and video of bodies covered in fabric and covered in blood and laying within the shrine were broadcast in Iranian media.
IRNA published images of a boy being carried on a stretcher and a mother cradling a young child with bloody footprints on the ground.
According to Iran’s Fars news agency, two children and a mother were also murdered.
The attack was attributed to the Islamic State organisation.
The Shah Cheragh mausoleum, which houses the tomb of Ahmad, Imam Reza’s brother, is regarded as the holiest location in southern Iran.
Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, promised “a serious retaliation.” In a statement issued by his office, he also denounced “the enemies of Iran” who try to “split the united ranks of the people… via violence and terror”.
According to a statement sent by his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “deeply condemns the terrorist attack on the Shah Cheragh Holy Shrine.”
Such crimes against places of worship are particularly terrible, it continued.
The necessity to prosecute those responsible for this atrocity against civilians enjoying their freedom to exercise their faith is stressed by the Secretary-General.
Since Mahsa Amini’s death last month, when she was detained by the morality police for allegedly breaking the Islamic Republic’s strict clothing code for women, Iran has been shaken by street protests. This attack took place on Wednesday.
During the conflict, dozens of individuals have died, mostly demonstrators but also security personnel. There have been hundreds more arrests, including several women.
The incident on Wednesday was also the bloodiest since February 2019, when a strike in Iran’s southeast resulted in the deaths of 27 Revolutionary Guards soldiers.
