Gunmen kill at least 15 in attack on Shi’ite shrine in Iran: state news agency
Armed men attacked a Shi’ite Muslim shrine in the Iranian city of Shiraz on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, state news agency IRNA said, as security forces clashed with protesters marking 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini in custody.
IRNA described the attackers as “takfiri terrorists”, a label used by officials in predominantly Shi’ite Muslim Iran to refer to hardline, armed Sunni groups.
The attackers were in a car and shot at pilgrims and staff at the entrance to the shrine of Shah Cheragh, the agency quoted witnesses as saying. Police arrested two of the three “terrorists” and were looking for the third.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said several women and children were among the dead.
The attack took place on the same day that Iranian security forces opened fire at mourners who gathered in Amini’s Kurdish home town of Saqez, according to a witness.
More to follow