At least 15 die in attack on Shiite shrine in Iran

DUBAI — At least 15 people were killed on Wednesday in an attack on a key Shiite Muslim shrine in southern Iran, state media reported, with the Islamic State group claiming the assault.

The attack carried out by an armed terrorist during evening prayers at the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in the city of Shiraz also wounded at least 19 people, state television reported.

Earlier reports said 13 people were killed and 40 wounded, and that three assailants were involved. But local judiciary chief Kazem Mousavi told state television that "one terrorist was involved in this attack".

The assailant "fired indiscriminately on worshippers" gathered at the shrine, local governor Mohammad-Hadi Imanieh told the broadcaster.

A witness told state news agency IRNA that he "heard the cries of women" as evening prayers started, and that the "assailant entered the shrine and opened fire".

Iranian media published images and video footage showing bloodied bodies covered in cloth lying inside the shrine.

IRNA carried a picture of a boy on a stretcher and another of a woman holding a child, with traces of blood on the ground.

Iran's Fars News Agency said a woman and two children were among those killed.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Shah Cheragh is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza — the eighth Shiite imam, and is considered to be the holiest site in southern Iran.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed "a severe response".

He also condemned "the enemies of Iran" who attempt to "divide the united ranks of the nation ... through violence and terror", according to a statement released by his office.

"Such acts targeting religious sites are especially heinous," it said.

China was shocked to learn about the terrorist attack that happened in Iran and condemns it, FM spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday, adding that China supported efforts made by Iran's government and people to fight terrorism.

Terrorism condemned

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "strongly condemns the terrorist attack on the Shah Cheragh Holy Shrine", said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric in a statement.

"The Secretary-General stresses the need to bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime against civilians exercising their right to practice their religion."

State television reported one arrest over the shrine attack and said the assailant was "a terrorist affiliated with takfiri groups".

The term takfiri in Iran and in several other countries refers to radical Sunni Islamist groups.

The attack was the second deadliest this year against a Shiite shrine in Iran.

In April, a 21-year-old man of Uzbek origin stabbed two Shiite clerics and wounded another at the Imam Reza shrine, which honors one of the most revered figures in Shiite Islam.

The killings happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when large crowds of worshippers had gathered at the shrine in Iran's second-largest city of Mashhad.

The assailant stabbed one of the victims 20 times, Tasnim News Agency had reported.

The young man, identified as a Sunni extremist by Iranian authorities, was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in June.

Wednesday's assault was also the deadliest since February 2019, when 27 members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed in an attack in the country's southeast.

IS claimed its first attack in Iran in 2017 when armed men and suicide bombers attacked the seat of parliament in Teheran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic, killing 17 people and wounding dozens.

Zhao Jia contributed to this story.

Agencies via Xinhua