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Two explosions caused by “terrorist attacks” killed 73 people and wounded dozens others near a cemetery in the central Iranian city of Kerman on January 3 while a ceremony was being held to mark the anniversary of the death of Major General Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force who was killed in a United States drone strike in Iraq exactly four years ago.
Iranian state media reported a first and then a second explosion during the ceremony in Kerman. The live broadcast showed thousands of mourners fleeing.
“The blasts were caused by terrorist attacks,” state media quoted a local official in the Kerman province as saying.
The semi-official Nournews had said earlier that “several gas canisters exploded on the road leading to the cemetery” in Kerman.
Head of the emergency services in Iran said that the first explosion was 700 meters from the grave of Soleimani, while the second explosion took place one kilometer away and was outside the path of visitors and inspection gates.
Authorities have confirmed 73 deaths and 170 wounded who have been transferred to medical centers, emergency services announced.
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.
The deadly explosions near the late commander’s 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.
