Attack on Iran Shi’ite shrine leaves one dead, says state media
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Rescuers preparing to transport an injured person on July 13 after an attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz, Iran.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TEHERAN – A shooting on Sunday at a Shi’ite Muslim shrine in Iran’s south killed at least one person and wounded eight others, state media reported, revising down a previous toll of four fatalities.
The attack comes less than a year after a similar one on the same holy site, the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, the capital of Fars province.
“One person has been killed and eight others wounded in the attack,” official news agency IRNA reported, quoting Fars Deputy Governor Esmail Ghezel Sofla.
The wounded “have been transferred to medical centres and are undergoing treatment”, IRNA said.
Earlier, it said four people were killed, but it has retracted the initial report.
The death toll of one was confirmed by Fars commander Yadollah Bouali of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, speaking on state TV.
Iranian media outlets have provided different accounts of the attack and varying casualty tolls.
Mr Bouali said a lone gunman was behind the shooting and arrested shortly after.
“A terrorist entered the gate of the shrine and opened fire with a battle rifle,” he said.
Fars Governor Mohamed Hadi Imanieh told state TV the attack occurred at around 7pm local time (11.30pm Singapore time).
Footage carried by state TV showed ambulances rushing to the site of the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered an investigation and vowed in a statement to bring those responsible to justice, according to IRNA.
The Shah Cheragh mausoleum is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza – the eighth Shi’ite imam – and is considered the holiest site in southern Iran.
On Oct 26, 2022, a mass shooting at the revered shrine left 13 people dead and 30 wounded,
Iran hanged two men in public over the October 2022 attack, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website reported in July, identifying them as Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeem Hashem Qatali, but not revealing their nationalities.
The authorities had previously said the attack involved people from other countries, including neighbouring Afghanistan.
The pair were hanged at dawn on July 8 in a street near the shrine in Shiraz, IRNA reported at the time.
Mizan Online said they had been convicted of “corruption on earth, armed rebellion and acting against national security” as well as “conspiracy against the security of the country”.
According to Mizan, Rashidi had confessed to having collaborated with IS to carry out the shooting.
Three other defendants in the case were sentenced to prison for five, 15 and 25 years for being members of IS, Fars Chief Justice Kazem Moussavi said.
The main assailant – who Iranian media had identified as Hamed Badakhshan, a man in his 30s – died of injuries sustained during his arrest, the authorities said.
Last November, Teheran said 26 “takfiri terrorists” from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan had been arrested in connection with the attack.
In Shi’ite-dominated Iran, the term takfiri generally refers to jihadists or proponents of radical Sunni Islam.
The 2022 attack occurred as Iran was gripped by nationwide protests following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini,
