Iranian authorities on Friday said that security forces arrested at least 11 suspects for their alleged involvement in twin blasts during a ceremony commemorating the prominent slain commander Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday that killed nearly 100 people. The Islamic State had previously taken responsibility for the attack while the country has vowed revenge.

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. 

In a televised address, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that forces will decide on the place and time to take action. As victims were buried on Friday, mourners wept over their coffins and crowds chanted “revenge, revenge”. “We will find you wherever you are,” Revolutionary Guards commander Major-General Hossein Salami said at the funeral in Kerman’s Imam Ali religious centre.

The twin bomb explosions were the deadliest attacks in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Supporters had gathered to observe the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s death in a US drone strike near Baghdad airport. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, issued a stern message, warning “criminals” of punishment and a robust response to the tragedy.

The Intelligence Ministry said its agents seized explosive devices and raw material, explosive vests, remote-control devices, detonators and thousand of pellets used in explosive vests. One of the suicide bombers was identified as a Tajik national, it said.

How the situation unfolded?

The attacks came a day after a deputy head of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was killed in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut. The first bomb on Wednesday was detonated around 3 pm, and the other went off some 20 minutes later, the Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, told state television. He said that the second blast killed and wounded the most people.

Images and video shared on social media appeared to correspond with the accounts of officials, who said the first blast happened about 700 metres from Soleimani’s grave in the Kerman Martyrs Cemetery near a parking lot.

The crowd then rushed west along Shohada Street, where the second blast struck about 1 kilometre from the grave. A delayed second explosion is often used by militants to inflict more casualties by targeting emergency personnel responding to an attack.

The role of the Islamic State

Sunni extremist groups, including the Islamic State group, have conducted large-scale attacks in the past that killed civilians in Shiite-majority Iran, though not in relatively peaceful Kerman. The terrorist group has been operating in the shadows since it was largely crushed by a US-led coalition.

The Islamic State imposed a reign of terror on millions of people and claimed control over swathes of the combined territories of Iraq and Syria. This week’s attack in Iran is a sign that the group is seeking to rebuild its power and relevance, Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, told Reuters.

The group’s movement went underground where they formed sleeper cells that launched hit-and-run attacks, according to an Iraqi government security adviser who is part of a high-level security unit that follows Islamic State activities in Iraq and neighbouring lands.

India expresses shock

India conveyed deep shock and sadness on Thursday in response to the tragic bombings in Iran’s Kerman city as External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal expressed solidarity with the government and people of Iran during this challenging time.

“We are shocked and saddened by the terrible bombings in Kerman City, Iran. At this difficult time, we express our solidarity with the government and people of Iran,” stated Randhir Jaiswal. He further conveyed thoughts and prayers for the families of the victims and those wounded, emphasizing India’s support.

(with inputs from Reuters)

ALSO READ | ‘Attackers will face harsh response’, Iran leader as twin bomb explosions kill 93 people