State media: 73 dead in explosions near grave of slain general in Iran
On Wednesday, Iran commemorated the fourth anniversary of the death of Soleimani, who was killed by the US military in Iraq on January 3, 2020. The Iranian news agency Isna quoted the mayor of Kerman as saying that the bombs exploded ten minutes apart.
The Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that two bags of explosives had exploded on site. The perpetrators "apparently detonated the bombs by remote control", Tasnim stated.
Footage on the internet shows a crowd of people trying to flee while security forces cordon off the area. State television showed images of several ambulances and rescue workers on the scene.
Soleimani was killed in a drone strike near Baghdad ordered by then US President Donald Trump. The general commanded the Al-Quds Brigades, the branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards responsible for foreign missions, and was considered a hero of the Iran-Iraq war in his home country. Trump said at the time that he had ordered the drone strike in response to a series of attacks on US bases in Iraq.
In the days following his death, millions gathered in Iran to mourn the general. A poll published in 2018 gave Soleimani a popularity rating of 83% in Iran - more than the president and foreign minister at the time.
The situation in the Middle East is currently extremely tense. The explosions took place one day after Saleh al-Aruri, the deputy head of the politburo of the radical Islamic Hamas, was killed in a drone attack in Beirut. Security sources in Lebanon said that Israel had carried out the drone attack on the office in a southern suburb of Beirut.
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Source: www.stern.de
