Alleged suicide bombers Omar al-Muwahid” and “Saif Allah al-Mujahid as seen in a photo released by ISIS’ Amaq.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the January 3 deadly bombings that targeted mourners near the grave of late Quds Force commander Major General Qassim Soleimani in the central Iranian city of Kerman.
The terrorist attack was the deadliest in Iran since its 1979 revolution. According to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), at least 84 lost their lives and more than 284 others were wounded in the bombings.
In a statement released on January 4, ISIS’ main news agency, Amaq, claimed that two suicide bombers, who are brothers, had detonated their explosive vests as Iranian mourners gathered for the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Soleimani near his grave in the cemetery of Kerman, his home town.
The statement, titled “And Kill Them Wherever You Find Them,” named the two bombers as “Omar al-Muwahid” and “Saif Allah al-Mujahid.” It said that the two targeted a gathering of “polytheists” near the grave of their “dead leader.”
The terrorist group offered no further proof and their account of the bombings differs from that given by Iranian media. Amaq alleged that more than a 100 were killed in the attack.
Iranian media reported ISIS’s claim of responsibility. Nevertheless, there were no comments from Iranian officials. Tehran is apparently skeptical.
Initially, Iran’s President Ebhrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the bombings and warned it would pay a “heavy price.” Israel didn’t comment on the accusations.
Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s military activities in the Middle East and is hailed as a hero and a martyr among supporters of the Tehran-led Axis of Resistance. He was killed by a United States drone strike ordered by former President Donald Trump at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on 3 January 2020.
The deadly bombings near Soleimani grave came amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel over the latter’s war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip and the recent assassination of a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Brigade General Razi Mousavi, in Syria.
