TEHRAN: Iranian authorities announced the apprehension of 28 individuals associated with the Daesh group who were allegedly planning to target Tehran during the anniversary of last year’s protests. The intelligence ministry disclosed this development on Sunday.
These protests had erupted following the demise of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been taken into custody for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women on September 16, 2022.
The ministry reported, “In recent days, a series of coordinated operations were carried out in Tehran, Alborz, and West Azerbaijan provinces, resulting in the seizure of several terrorist hideouts and safe houses, and the arrest of 28 members of the aforementioned terrorist network.”
The ministry further stated, “These individuals are linked to the professional criminal organization of Daesh, and some of them have a history of associating with takfiris in Syria or engaging in activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Kurdistan region of Iraq.”
In Iran, predominantly Shiite, “takfiri” is typically used to refer to jihadists or advocates of radical Sunni Islam.
The intelligence ministry reported that two security personnel sustained injuries during the arrest operations, and a cache of bombs, firearms, suicide vests, and communication devices was confiscated. They also revealed that they had thwarted a scheme to “execute 30 simultaneous terrorist attacks in densely populated areas of Tehran, with the aim of destabilizing security and inciting unrest and protests on the anniversary of last year’s disturbances.”
The protests, which spanned several months, resulted in the deaths of numerous individuals, including dozens of security personnel, a situation Tehran labeled as “riots” incited by foreign governments and “hostile media.”
In a separate development, a Tajik Daesh member was sentenced to death by a court for his involvement in a lethal gun attack on a Shiite Muslim shrine last month. This attack occurred at the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, the capital of Fars province in the south, less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site, which was subsequently claimed by the Daesh group.
Source: AFP