All terrorists involved in the latest deadly attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman have been arrested, the city's prosecutor Mehdi Bakhshi said.
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Bakhshi disclosed the information in a television interview on Saturday, three days after the terrorist attack.
“23 people were arrested [relación con] the criminal case [terrorista] from Kerman and will be subjected to preliminary interrogations,” he said, quoted by IRNA.
New images are released of the explosions in Kerman due to the terrorist attack by ISISRAEL.#Ribbon#Iran#Israel Murderer. pic.twitter.com/5O8qbU68bV
– Abu Amal (@FalasAbuAmal)
January 6, 2024
In addition, the judicial official added, “16 bombs were discovered throughout Kerman province” with explosive power exceeding that of the suicide vests used in Wednesday's attack.
The terror attacks, claimed by the U.S.-backed group Daesh Takfiri, occurred near the gravesite of the late Iranian counterterrorism commander Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani during a ceremony commemorating the fourth anniversary of his martyrdom.
The explosions killed 89 people, including 76 Iranians and 13 Afghans, and injured another 286, some of them in critical condition.
The terrorist group Islamic State, also known as Daesh, claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks in Kerman
Bakhshi dismissed rumors that the explosives used in the attack were placed in dumpsters and detonated remotely, saying both explosions were carried out by suicide bombers, one of whom was from Tajikistan.
Stressing that the terrorists failed to plant explosives within the cemetery where the martyrs are buried, the prosecutor said: “In recent months, up to 23 Daesh terrorists have been arrested across Kerman province were prepared to carry out suicide attacks.”
The prosecutor noted that the province faced a variety of threats during this year's martyrdom anniversary of General Soleimani, as there were reports of possible terrorist attacks by Daesh and the anti-Iranian terror sect Mujahedin-e-Khalq.
Emergency equipment, including two explosive vests, was also discovered in the terrorists' hideouts.
“Therefore, the entire province has mobilized” to counter possible threats, he said.
Bakhshi added that the Ministry of Intelligence was involved in the mobilization, as was the intelligence organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and even the army, which monitored small aircraft within a radius of several kilometers and there were also special sniffer dogs that could potentially detect explosives .
The public prosecutor rejected allegations that there were not as many security precautions at this year's anniversary as last year.
He explained that this year's event will be characterized by more preventive security measures and a greater deployment of security forces, as well as the extensive use of thermal imaging cameras and surveillance drones.