On 3 January 2024, a commemorative ceremony marking the assassination of Qasem Soleimani at his tomb in eastern Kerman, Iran, was disrupted by two bomb explosions. The attacks killed at least 89 people,[1] and injured 284 others.[2][4] The Iranian government declared the bombings a terrorist attack,[5] making it the deadliest such incident in the country since the Cinema Rex attack of 1978.[6] The next day, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.[7]
On 3 January 2020, General Qasem Soleimani was killed by a United States drone strike in Iraq. Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Soleimani held a position of significant influence in Iran, widely considered the second most powerful figure in the country after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As leader of the Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of the IRGC, he played a key role in shaping Iranian policy across the region. Soleimani was responsible for overseeing clandestine missions and providing guidance, funding, weapons, intelligence, and logistical support to allied governments and armed groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah.[5][10]
During the burial procession for Soleimani in Kerman on 7 January 2020, a stampede occurred, killing at least 50 mourners and causing injuries to over 200 individuals.[5] The 2024 attack came amidst heightened tensions in the Middle East following the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and its spillover conflicts. A day before the bombings, an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon killed Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri,[5] while a week prior an Israeli airstrike killed Iranian general Sayyed Razi Mousavi in Syria.[11] Into the 2020s, the Islamic State and other Sunni extremist groups have launched similar attacks in the Shiite-majority country, including a mass shooting that killed 13 people in Shiraz in 2022.[12]
Bombings
The twin explosions struck a procession going towards Soleimani's tomb in the Golzar Shohada cemetery,[13] around the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of his death.[5] The first explosion occurred 700 metres from Soleimani's grave near a parking lot, while the second occurred one kilometre away at Shohada Street, where many had fled.[14][15] The explosives were placed in such a manner as to prevent their detection at the security gates.[16] The explosions occurred between 10 and 20 minutes apart.[17][18]
According to Iranian media reports, the attack was carried out using two briefcase bombs placed at the entrance[16] that were detonated remotely. A witness said one of the bombs was placed inside a trash bin.[19] Another bomb was reportedly placed inside a car.[20] However, the state news agency IRNA reported on 4 January that investigators suspected that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.[21] The deputy governor of Kerman province said the incident was a terrorist attack.[5][10][22]
At least 89 people were killed[1] and at least another 284 were injured, 27 of them critically.[5][14] The dead included 12 Afghan nationals[1] and three paramedics who responded to the site of the first explosion and were caught in the second blast.[19] Most of the casualties were believed to have been caused by the second explosion.[5][12] Several of the injured were trampled in the panic that followed the explosions.[23] Early reports quoting Iranian officials put the death toll at 103, but authorities later revised the count down to 89.[1]
Aftermath
Iranian state TV displayed Red Crescent rescuers providing assistance to injured individuals at the ceremony. Several Iranian news agencies reported a higher count of wounded individuals. Reza Fallah, the head of the provincial Red Crescent, stated that their rapid response teams were evacuating the injured, but faced challenges due to waves of crowds obstructing roads.[24] Hospitals in Kerman and surrounding areas were placed on alert to treat victims.[13]
In the evening following the explosion, crowds gathered at the Golzar Shohada cemetery chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".[25]
A mass funeral for the victims of the attack was held at the Emam Ali mosque in Kerman on 5 January, with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and IRGC commander Hossein Salami in attendance. On the same day, authorities called for mass rallies against the bombings following the funerals and Friday prayers.[1][26]
Reactions
Domestic
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, pledged a "hard response" to the attack and declared that those responsible "will be the definite target of repression and just punishment from now on".[27]
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi cancelled a scheduled visit to Turkey and declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the attacks on 4 January.[28][14] Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi vowed an imminent response for the responsible parties.[29] In his visit to the scene, FARAJA head Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Radan vowed to uproot terrorists.[30]Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly urged authorities to identify those behind the attacks.[31]
Soleimani’s daughter Zeinab condemned the attacks and expressed hope that "the perpetrators of the crime will be identified and punished for their actions".[25]
International
Countries
Russian president Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the victims of the attacks, calling it "shocking in cruelty and cynicism".[32] Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his condolences to the "friendly and brotherly" people of Iran via a social media post.[33]Pope Francis issued a telegram expressing his deep sadness over the “loss of life".[1]
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani strongly condemned "inhuman terrorist attacks" and said "Pakistan stands in solidarity with Iran at this hour of grief".[34] Syria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates expressed condemnation of the attack.[35] The foreign ministries of Afghanistan,[36]Iraq,[37]Armenia,[38]Azerbaijan[39] and India[40] also expressed support for the Iranian people as well.[37]
Supranational organizations
The United Nations and the European Union also condemned the attack.[37]
Militant groups
The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said the victims of the bombings were "martyrs who died on the same road, cause and battle that was led by" Soleimani.[5] The Houthi movement in Yemen also condemned the attacks, calling the "criminal bombings" an "extension of all the crimes that attempted to undermine the Islamic Republic, its role in confronting global arrogance, its adoption of the nation's central cause, and its support for the resistance forces in Palestine and Lebanon."[37]
Responsibility
On 4 January, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on Telegram.[7] It later released images on its news outlet Amaq showing two masked individuals who were brothers whom it claimed carried out the attack as suicide bombers.[41][20] Based on U.S. intelligence assessments, the attack was executed by the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State, known as ISIS–K.[3]
Prior to Islamic State's claim of responsibility, Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi blamed Israel for the attack.[42] Vice President Mohammad Mokhber and Expediency Discernment Council member General Mohsen Rezaee also blamed Israel for the bombings.[43][44] Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani claimed that the perpetrators were "supplied by the United States and the Zionist regime".[45] The United States said there is no reason to believe Israel was involved in the bombing,[46] and rejected suggestions of US involvement, calling such allegations "ridiculous", and expressed its sympathies towards the victims.[37] Asked for comment regarding the bombings, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said it was "focused on the combat with Hamas".[25]
Despite the Islamic State's claims of responsibility for the attacks, Iranian officials continued to accuse the United States and Israel of involvement in the attacks, with IRGC commanding general Hossein Salami saying that the group "has disappeared" and that its members "only act as mercenaries" for American and Israeli interests on 5 January.[47]
^"Iran: Deadly blasts near grave of slain Qassem Soleimani". dw.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2024. "We are deeply saddened by the many deaths in today's explosions in #Kerman, including many children," Germany's Foreign Ministry wrote on Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter.
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Islamic State – Khorasan Province[3]
