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| A child is passed to safety from a window of Tehran's parliament building |
This morning, terrorists launched coordinated attacks against Iran's parliament building and the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum in Tehran. It is being reported that at least 12 people died and 35 were injured.
From the Daily Mail:
ISIS carries out its first strike in Iran: Burka-clad gunmen are shot dead after taking hostages at parliament as suicide bomber blows himself up at Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum
- ISIS claimed its first attack in Iran after fighters stormed parliament and shrine
- At least 12 people died and 35 were wounded in the assault, state media said
- Four parliament attackers filmed themselves in the building with a dead body
- 'Female suicide bomber' detonated at shrine while another was shot dead
ISIS has claimed its first attack in Iran as at least 12 people were killed and 35 wounded in joint raids on parliament and Ayatollah Kohmeini's shrine on Wednesday.
The terror group says fighters armed with AK47s and pistols stormed parliament through the civilian entrance while disguising themselves as women by wearing burkas, shooting security guards before detonating a suicide bomb, killing at least five and wounding 25.
Meanwhile two more suicide bombers attacked a shrine to Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of modern-day Iran, as it was reported a woman blew herself up, killing at least two and injuring another 10.
Anti-terror police said they exchanged fire with militants in the northern part of parliament before a bomb detonated on the fourth floor.
Video purporting to be from inside the building showed a fighter armed with an AK47 moving between rooms as a dead body lay on the floor.
Security forces said a second attacker at the shrine had been shot dead after the first blew up, while another two people were arrested.
Tourists at the mausoleum had been locked inside to keep them safe.
State news channels sought to downplay the attacks, saying that parliament had resumed session shortly after the first reports of gunfire.
Other TV channels either stopped reporting on the attacks shortly after they began, or failed to mention them altogether.
The unusual attacks prompted the interior ministry to call for an urgent security meeting, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
Iranian state media said police helicopters were circling over the parliament building and that all mobile phone lines from inside were disconnected.
The semi-official ISNA news agency said all entrance and exit gates at parliament were closed and that politicians and reporters had been ordered to stay inside the chamber, where a session had been in progress.
It quoted politician Elias Hazrati as saying the attackers were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
It described the shrine attackers as 'terrorists' and said one carried out a suicide bombing, without providing further details.
The raids, the first in some time in Tehran, come during the holy month of Ramadan and shortly after President Hassan Rouhani was reelected.
Thomas Erdbrink, bureau chief for the New York Times, reports that the attacks will come as a personal embarrassment to Rouhani, who ran on his security record.
He also reports that the shrine is largely used by foreign tourists, and that security was lax when he visited last month.
The mausoleum is in southern Tehran, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the parliament building.
Shia Iran has been singled out as a target by Sunni jihadists, including the Islamic State group, but has largely escaped attacks within its urban centres.
Iran provides key ground forces against IS and other rebel groups in Syria and Iraq.
The Kremlin said that an attack on two targets in Tehran by armed men underlined the need for countries to pool their efforts to fight against terrorism, something it said meant working closely with Muslim nations.
Interesting that some still consider this 700 year old war to be "news."
ReplyDeleteOh Gol, comes home to roost. How saddy, sad sad.
ReplyDelete