https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...016b97-a889-4a7d-b402-479bd6858e0a_story.html
A group of gunmen who fired on a military parade in Iran’s Ahvaz killed at least two dozen people and wounded more than 50 others in a rare attack on the country’s powerful security establishment, state media said Saturday.
The assault by alleged militants marks one of the deadliest attacks in Iran in years and threatened to raise tensions in a region already plagued by turmoil.
Iranian state media said that 24 people, including civilians, had been killed. At least 53 others were wounded, including some who were in critical condition.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif vowed Saturday on Twitter to “respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives.”
“Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties,” Zarif said. “Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.”
While the identities of the attackers remained unclear, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed minority Arab separatists for the bloodshed. He accused Saudi Arabia, a regional rival, of funding the militant group he said was responsible. Earlier, state television claimed that Sunni “takfiri terrorists” had carried out the assault.
Ahvaz, in southwestern Khuzestan province, is home to the small Arab minority in Iran, which is mainly ethnic Persian, and has been the site of sporadic unrest. This summer, residents of the area staged protests amid severe water shortages. Members of the Ahvaz Arab minority have long accused the government in Tehran of neglect.
The ambush by four gunmen Saturday reportedly targeted a platform where Iranian officials had convened to watch a parade marking the Iran-Iraq war.
In one video posted online, soldiers participating in the parade initially seemed confused about the source of the gunfire. They soon scatter as the shootout intensifies.
“Get on the ground!” one man yells. Images also showed bloodied soldiers limping toward ambulances and troops helping escort women and children to safety.
A regional Guard commander in Khuzestan, Hassan Shahvarpour, said three of the assailants were killed in clashes with security forces on the scene, state television reported. A fourth gunmen was detained.
Last year, Islamic State militants staged an attack in Tehran that killed 18 people. In that assault, suicide bombers stormed the parliament and mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini.
Those attackers were identified as members of Iran’s Sunni Kurdish minority who had joined the Islamic State. In July, Iran executed eight people convicted in the attack.
A group of gunmen who fired on a military parade in Iran’s Ahvaz killed at least two dozen people and wounded more than 50 others in a rare attack on the country’s powerful security establishment, state media said Saturday.
The assault by alleged militants marks one of the deadliest attacks in Iran in years and threatened to raise tensions in a region already plagued by turmoil.
Iranian state media said that 24 people, including civilians, had been killed. At least 53 others were wounded, including some who were in critical condition.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif vowed Saturday on Twitter to “respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives.”
“Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties,” Zarif said. “Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks.”
While the identities of the attackers remained unclear, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed minority Arab separatists for the bloodshed. He accused Saudi Arabia, a regional rival, of funding the militant group he said was responsible. Earlier, state television claimed that Sunni “takfiri terrorists” had carried out the assault.
Ahvaz, in southwestern Khuzestan province, is home to the small Arab minority in Iran, which is mainly ethnic Persian, and has been the site of sporadic unrest. This summer, residents of the area staged protests amid severe water shortages. Members of the Ahvaz Arab minority have long accused the government in Tehran of neglect.
The ambush by four gunmen Saturday reportedly targeted a platform where Iranian officials had convened to watch a parade marking the Iran-Iraq war.
In one video posted online, soldiers participating in the parade initially seemed confused about the source of the gunfire. They soon scatter as the shootout intensifies.
“Get on the ground!” one man yells. Images also showed bloodied soldiers limping toward ambulances and troops helping escort women and children to safety.
A regional Guard commander in Khuzestan, Hassan Shahvarpour, said three of the assailants were killed in clashes with security forces on the scene, state television reported. A fourth gunmen was detained.
Last year, Islamic State militants staged an attack in Tehran that killed 18 people. In that assault, suicide bombers stormed the parliament and mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini.
Those attackers were identified as members of Iran’s Sunni Kurdish minority who had joined the Islamic State. In July, Iran executed eight people convicted in the attack.
