Bombings kill more than 100 in Iran as polarizing military figure honored

Two bombs exploded minutes apart, rocking the city of Kerman, Iran, about 510 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran, Wednesday, Jan. 3. The blasts killed more than 100 people, injured dozens more and left countless people running for safety.

The second bomb sent shrapnel into a screaming crowd fleeing the first explosion.

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The gathering marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force. Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq. The blasts occurred near his gravesite as thousands of people lined up for the event.

Moments later, the area turned into a chaotic scene. Wounded laid on the ground as first responders scrambled to tend to the injured and dead.

Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahdi told state television that the second blast killed and wounded the most people.

According to The Associated Press, a delayed second explosion is often used by militants to target emergency personnel who are responding to the scene, inflicting more casualties. Screams of people trying to escape could be heard on state TV. Officials said some people were hurt racing from the scene.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for what appears to be the deadliest militant attack to target the country since its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran, which supports Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, has many enemies who could be behind the assault, including exiled groups, militant organizations and state actors.

The deadly bombings come as Iranian-backed groups have intensified confrontation with Israel and the U.S. amid the war in Gaza.

While Israel has carried out attacks in Iran over its nuclear program, it has conducted targeted assassinations, not mass casualty bombings.

According to The Associated Press, Sunni extremist groups including the Islamic State group have conducted large-scale attacks in the past that killed civilians in Shiite-majority Iran, though not in a relatively peaceful Kerman.

Iran has also seen mass protests in recent years, including those over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in 2022. Iran has also been targeted by exile groups in attacks dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s regional military operations. He’s hailed as a national icon among supporters of the country’s theocracy. Soleimani also helped secure Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after the 2011 Arab spring protest.

The uprisings against Assad eventually turned into a civil and regional war, which is still raging on. The general also killed U.S. troops during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arming militants with roadside bombs used to kill and maim service members. Following the attacks, American officials called for his death.

A drone strike launched by the Trump administration in eventually killed Soleimani after escalating incidents followed by America’s 2018 unilateral withdrawal from Iran with world powers. The polarizing military figure has drawn large processions in the past. During his funeral in 2020, a stampede broke out in Kerman, killing 56 people and injuring more than 200 others.