Iran’s security forces arrested 11 people over involvement in the twin bomb blasts that claimed the lives of around 100 people attending a memorial service for a slain military commander, the authorities said on Friday (Jan 5).
Iran’s intelligence ministry released a statement saying that the security forces detained two people for helping the suicide bombers in Kerman.
Nine others, who were based in several parts of Iran, were also arrested over alleged links to the bombings.
“Nine other members of the terrorist group’s support network and its associates were identified and arrested in six provinces,” the ministry said in reference to IS.
The ministry, further revealing details about the nationality of the suicide bombers said that one of them was a Tajik citizen, whereas the identity of the other had yet to be determined.
The blasts were the deadliest attacks to rock the country since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Raisi vows to avenge killings
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who joined the mourners in the southern city of Kerman on Friday for the funerals of 89 people who were killed in the twin bombings, vowed to avenge the killings saying, “Our forces will decide on the place and time to take action”.
“We will find you wherever you are,” Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami said at the funeral.
The Islamic State jihadist group on Thursday (Jan 4) claimed responsibility for twin bombings.
In a statement on Telegram, the group said two of its members “activated their explosives vests” at a gathering near the grave in the southern city of Kerman of slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani.
The death toll earlier was reported to be 103, but Iranian authorities on Thursday said blasts killed 84 people, revising the toll.
Tehran’s official news agency IRNA quoted Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying that “according to forensic statistics, the number of martyrs from this incident has been announced as 84 so far”.
(With inputs from agencies)
