The Islamic State jihadist group says it is responsible for the twin bombings which killed at least 84 people at a memorial ceremony in Iran for slain Revolutionary Guards general Qasem Soleimani.
The claim from IS came as Iran observed a day of national mourning for those killed in Wednesday’s blasts.
In a statement on Telegram, IS said two of its members activated their explosives vests among the crowds who had come to honour Soleimani on the anniversary of his death in a targeted US drone strike in Baghdad four years ago.
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According to the official IRNA news agency, Iranian investigators had already confirmed that the first blast, at least, was the work of a “suicide bomber” and believed the trigger for the second was very probably another suicide bomber.
Soleimani, who headed the Guards’ foreign operations arm the Quds Force, was a staunch enemy of IS, a Sunni extremist group which has carried out previous attacks in majority-Shiite Iran.
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