Iran executed two men on Saturday after a Shia shrine was attacked by militant group Islamic State in October, killing at least 13 people, Iranian state media reported on Saturday.
The two were hanged at dawn in the southern city of Shiraz, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The men said during their trial that they had been in contact with the Islamic State in neighboring Afghanistan and that they helped organize the attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz, according to Iranian media reports.
The attack on Shah Cheragh
CCTV footage broadcast on state television showed an attacker entering the popular shrine after hiding an assault rifle in a pocket and firing at the devotees, who tried to flee and hide in the corridors.
The gunman, who was a Tajik national, later died in hospital as a result of the attack. Officials initially said 15 people were killed in the attack but later revised the number to 13.
Iranian exiles protest against executions and stonings in Iran during a demonstration in Berlin on December 10, 2013 (Source: (ERIC BRIDIERS/US MISSION GENEVA))
The Islamic State, which once posed a security threat across the Middle East, has credited previous acts of violence in Iran, including deadly twin attacks in 2017 that targeted the parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini .