<\/p>\n
At least 103 people were killed in Iran Wednesday as two bombs in quick succession struck a crowd commemorating slain general Qasem Soleimani on the anniversary of his killing<\/a>, state media reported.<\/p>\n The blasts, which state television called a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d, came with tensions running high in the Middle East a day after Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri \u2014 an Iran ally \u2014 was killed in a drone attack<\/a> on a Beirut southern suburb which Lebanese officials blamed on Israel.<\/p>\n The blasts stuck near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in Kerman, Soleimani\u2019s southern hometown where he is buried, as supporters gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of his killing in a US drone strike just outside Baghdad airport.<\/p>\n Kerman\u2019s deputy governor, Rahman Jalali, said the explosions were a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d.<\/p>\n There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of people killed rose to 103 following the death of people injured during the terrorist explosions,\u201d said the official IRNA<\/em> news agency, which earlier reported 73 deaths.<\/p>\n Another 141 people were wounded in the bombings, IRNA<\/em> said, adding that some were in \u201ccritical condition\u201d.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s Tasnim<\/em> news agency, quoting informed sources, said \u201ctwo bags carrying bombs went off\u201d at the site.<\/p>\n \u201cThe perpetrators \u2026 of this incident apparently detonated the bombs by remote control,\u201d Tasnim<\/em> added.<\/p>\n The ISNA<\/em> news agency quoted Kerman mayor Saeed Tabrizi as saying the bombs exploded 10 minutes apart.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were walking towards the cemetery when a car suddenly stopped behind us and a waste bin containing a bomb exploded,\u201d an eyewitness was quoted by ISNA<\/em> as saying.<\/p>\n \u201cWe only heard the sound of the explosion and saw people falling. There was a bomb in the trash can,\u201d the witness added.<\/p>\n Online footage showed crowds scrambling to flee as security personnel cordoned off the area.<\/p>\n Images on state television showed several ambulances and rescue personnel in the area.<\/p>\n Among the 73 killed were three paramedics who were dispatched to the area following the first explosion, according to Iran\u2019s Red Crescent.<\/p>\n Soleimani headed the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, overseeing military operations across the Middle East.<\/p>\n Declared a \u201cliving martyr\u201d by Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while still alive, Soleimani was widely regarded as a hero for his role in defeating the militant Islamic State group in both Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n In the eyes of many Iranians, his military and strategic prowess were instrumental in warding off the multi-ethnic disintegration of neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n Long seen as a deadly adversary by the US and its allies, Soleimani was one of the most important powerbrokers across the region, setting Iran\u2019s political and military agenda in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.<\/p>\n On days after his death in 2020 and leading up to his funeral in Kerman, millions turned out to mourn in a show of national unity.<\/p>\n A survey published in 2018 by IranPoll and the University of Maryland found Soleimani had a popularity rating in Iran of 83 per cent, ahead of then-president Hassan Rouhani and then-foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.<\/p>\n Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said Pakistan condemned the \u201cheinous act\u201d and stood in solidarity with Iran. \u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with the Iranian Government and people at this difficult time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani condemned the \u201cinhuman terrorist attacks\u201d and extended Pakistan\u2019s condolences to the Iranian people.<\/p>\n Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Zardari also condemned the attacks in a joint statement.<\/p>\n Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences in a letter to Iran\u2019s President Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n \u201cThe killing of peaceful people visiting the cemetery is shocking in its cruelty and cynicism,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At least 103 people were killed in Iran Wednesday as two bombs in quick succession struck a crowd commemorating slain general Qasem Soleimani on the anniversary of his killing, state media reported. The blasts, which state television called a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d, came with tensions running high in the Middle East a day after Hamas number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/03195725d2c2949.jpg?r=195810","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Deadly adversary<\/h2>\n
\u2018Inhuman terrorist attacks\u2019<\/h2>\n