DUBAI – Iran’s official news agency said Monday that the gunman who killed 13 people last month at a major Shiite shrine was a Tajik national.
The militant Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 26 attack on Shah Cheragh, one of Iran’s top five Shiite shrines in Shiraz. However, the government has attempted to blame the attack on the mostly peaceful anti-government protests, without providing any evidence.
Iran initially stated that 15 people were killed in Shiraz, but later revised the figure to 13 due to double counting.
According to IRNA, the gunman’s name is Sobhan Komrouni. He died from injuries sustained during his arrest in a hospital in southern Iran, just days after the Oct. 26 attack.
According to Monday’s report, the gunman’s accomplice was an Afghan citizen named Mohammad Ramez Rashidi, according to Iran’s Intelligence Ministry. According to the report, a third suspect from neighboring Azerbaijan was the “main coordinator” of the attack from Iran’s capital, Tehran.
According to IRNA, authorities have arrested 26 suspects in connection with the shrine attack, all of whom are reportedly Azerbaijani, Tajik, or Afghan nationals.
It said, without going into detail, that some of the suspects were planning a similar attack in Zahedan, the restive southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, which was the scene of deadly unrest last week.
Iran has been embroiled in weeks of anti-government protests since a 22-year-old Kurdish woman died in custody in September after being detained for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
Source: AP