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Death Toll in Islamic State-Claimed Suicide Blasts Rises to 91


Coffins of casualties of the Islamic State attacks in Kerman, Iran, lie during a funeral ceremony in Kerman on Jan. 5, 2024. (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)
Coffins of casualties of the Islamic State attacks in Kerman, Iran, lie during a funeral ceremony in Kerman on Jan. 5, 2024. (West Asia News Agency via Reuters)

The death toll from a suicide bombing in Iran claimed by the Islamic State group has risen to at least 91, state TV reported Saturday.

The TV quoted Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for the country’s emergency services, as saying an 8-year-old boy and a 67-year-old man who were wounded in the attack have died.

Yektaparast said that there are 102 people still being treated in hospitals, of whom 11 are in critical condition.

In Wednesday’s attack, one suicide bomber detonated his explosives, then another attacked 20 minutes later as emergency workers and other people tried to help the wounded.

The attack took place in Kerman, about 820 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran. It targeted a commemoration for Guard General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 by a U.S. drone strike as he led its expeditionary Quds Force.

The intelligence ministry said Friday that one of the two suicide bombers was a Tajik national and that 11 people linked to the attack have been arrested.

Iran's intelligence ministry said in a statement that security forces detained two people for providing support to the two suicide bombers in Kerman and nine others based in other parts of Iran who were suspected of links to the incident.

The bombings were the deadliest such attacks in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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