ISIS is behind the attack on Iran. In a note published on social media, ISIS officially claimed responsibility for the attack carried out on the occasion of the death celebrations of General Qassem Soleimani in Kerman, Iran, on Wednesday, January 3. According to the Islamic State, two suicide bombers were responsible for the explosions.
The massacre caused more than 80 deaths and more than a hundred injuries. The explosions occurred near the city’s cemetery as thousands of people gathered to commemorate the former head of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds force, who was killed in a US strike in 2020. According to ISIS’s claim, the explosion was not caused by two remote-controlled backpacks filled with explosives, as was thought. The attack was instead carried out by two suicide bombers.
Explosion in Kerman, Iran
In the text that takes responsibility for ISIS, we read: “With the grace of God Almighty, two martyred brothers Omar al-Muvahid and Seyfullah al-Mujahid set out towards a crowded community of polytheist Shiites as part of a war. The death of their dead leader Qassem Soleimani.” “They detonated their explosive belts in the crowd on his grave, killing and wounding more than 300 Shiites.”
It was a hypothesis put forward by many observers that ISIS was behind the attack. In 2023 (my colleague Dario Prestigiacomo reminded this in this newspaper), there were two attacks in Iran by ISIS-K, the branch of the terrorist organization in Afghanistan. The methods used in both cases are very similar to what happened in Kerman. And in both cases, Tehran was quick to point the finger at ISIS (and also the Taliban).
Some experts, such as Meir Livak, a professor at Tel Aviv University, believe that the perpetrators of the attack may have been “Salafi-jihadist elements” from “Baloch or Kurdish or similar minorities inspired by the Islamic State ideology.”
ISIS spokesman: “Avenge Muslims everywhere”
The Islamic State is also active on the Israeli-Palestinian front. Around the same time, ISIS spokesman Abu Hutaifa al-Ansari called on Telegram to call on “all soldiers and supporters of the Islamic State” around the world to mobilize “to avenge Muslims everywhere, on earth and in the sky,” including Palestinians. There are people in Gaza “without distinction between civilians and military”.
“This is a holy war, not for land or homeland, but against the Jews allied with the Crusaders, and whatever the political solution, it will not end in terms of one or two states,” Al-Al wrote. Ansari. The ISIS spokesman later criticized the alliance between Shiite Iran and Sunni Palestinian groups fighting a “proxy war on Iran’s behalf.”
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
