At a ceremony in Iran to mourn top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone assault in 2020, Iranian officials said on Wednesday that two explosions sparked by “terrorist attacks” killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds more.
During an anniversary event at the cemetery where Soleimani is buried in the city of Kerman in southern Iran, Iranian state media reported a first explosion and then a second explosion.
Someone in the Kerman province’s government reportedly said, “The blasts were caused by terrorist attacks,” according to state media. Later, it was claimed that Babak Yektaparast, a representative of Iran’s emergency services, had stated that 170 people were hurt and 73 had died.
That “several gas canisters exploded on the road leading to the cemetery” was originally reported by the semi-official Nournews.
Hundreds of Iranians flocked to the ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of Soleimani’s death, and state TV captured Red Crescent rescuers caring to injured attendees. There may have been much more casualties, according to certain Iranian news outlets.
We have swift response teams removing casualties from the scene. “However, waves of people are obstructing roads,” Reza Fallah, head of the Red Crescent in Kerman province, said state TV.
