IS group claims responsibility for Iran suicide bombings killing at least 84

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Thursday for two suicide bombings targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 US drone strike the worst militant attack to strike Iran in decades as the wider Middle East remains on edge Experts who follow the group confirmed that the statement circulated online among jihadists came from the extremists who likely hope to take advantage of the chaos gripping the region amid Israels war on Hamas in the Gaza StripWednesdays attack in Kerman killed at least 84 people and wounded another 284 It targeted a ceremony honouring Revolutionary Guard Gen Qassem Soleimani held as an icon by supporters of the countrys theocracy and viewed by the US military as a deadly foe who aided militants who killed American troops in IraqThe Islamic State group claim identified the two attackers as Omar alMowahed and SeifAllah alMujahed The claim said the men carried out the attacks with explosive vests It also used disparaging language when discussing Shiites which the Islamic State group views as hereticsThe statement did not mention which regional arm of the extremists carried out the attack which other claims in the past have had But Aaron Y Zelin a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy said that some previous claims have not specified the regional arm and that the latest claim came directly from an account associated with the groupThe group likely hoped to see Iran strike at Israel widening its war on Hamas into a regional conflict that Islamic State could potentially take advantage of Zelin said This falls under the modus operandi of IS especially since it was such a mass casualty attack Zelin said They are kind of like the Joker They want to see the world burn They dont care how it happens as long as it benefits themThe Islamic State group which once held vast territory across Iraq and Syria ultimately were beaten back by USled forces It has been in disarray in the years since though it has mounted major assaults Iran did not immediately acknowledge the claim An earlier report by the staterun IRNA news agency later aired by state television quoted an unnamed informed source as saying that surveillance footage from the route to the commemoration at Kermans Matryrs Cemetery clearly showed a male suicide bomber detonating explosivesThe official said the second blast probably came from another suicide bomber though it hadnt been determined beyond doubt The Iranian state media reports also gave new distances for how far apart the blasts happened describing them as occurring 15 kilometer about a mile and 27 kilometers 168 miles away from Soleimanis crypt The official said the bombers likely chose the locations because they were outside of the security perimeter for the commemorationAn earlier death toll of 103 was twice revised lower after officials realized that some names had been repeated on a list of victims and due to the severity of wounds suffered by some of the dead health authorities said Many of the wounded were in critical condition however so the death toll could rise The gathering marked the fourth anniversary of the killing of Soleimani the head of the Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force in a US drone strike in Iraq The explosions occurred as long lines of people gathered to mark the eventIranian state television and officials described the attacks as bombings without immediately giving clear details of what happened The attacks came a day after a deputy head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in BeirutThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever