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Dozens of people arrested in Iran over deadly bombing attack

11 January 2024 16:11 (UTC +04:00)

Iranian authorities say they have arrested 35 people in relation to a bombing attack in the southeastern city of Kerman earlier this month that claimed the lives of nearly 100 people, APA reports citing Iran Wire.

The Intelligence Ministry said on January 11 it had identified one of the two suicide bombers as a national of Tajikistan who entered Iran illegally last month, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Information will be released later about the second suicide bomber, the ministry said, adding that the arrests were carried out in the provinces of Kerman, Sistan and Baluchistan, Khorasan Razavi, Isfahan, Tehran and West Azerbaijan.

The two blasts in Kerman on January 3 hit crowds at a memorial ceremony near the tomb for Qassem Soleimani, a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.

The Sunni extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 91 people, according to state media.

Islamic Republic officials have vowed revenge for the bloodiest attack in Iran since the 1979 revolution.

The IS group has in the past claimed responsibility for some terrorist attacks in Iran.