INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Iranian officials have arrested a gunman who opened fire on a Shi&ite shrine in the city of Shiraz in Iran on Wednesday, killing 15
people.Iranian officials said they had arrested a gunman who carried out the attack
ISIS (Daesh) has claimed responsibility.The group has claimed previous attacks in Iran, including deadly twin bombings in 2017 which
targeted Iran&s parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic&s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.Wednesday&s killing of Shi&ite
pilgrims came on the same day that Iranian security forces clashed with increasingly strident protesters marking the 40-day anniversary
since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Reuters reported.Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi blamed the
protests sweeping Iran for paving the ground for the Shiraz attack, and President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran would respond, according to state
media.&Experience shows that Iran&s enemies, after failing to create a split in the nation&s united ranks, take revenge through violence and
terror,& said Raisi, speaking before Islamic State released its claim of responsibility.&This crime will definitely not go unanswered, and
the security and law enforcement forces will teach a lesson to those who designed and carried out the attack.&The semi-official Tasnim news
agency said the attacker shot an employee at the shrine entrance before his rifle jammed and he was chased by bystanders.He managed to fix
his gun and opened fire on his pursuers, before entering a courtyard and shooting worshippers
Several women and children were among the dead, it said.A witness at Shah Cheragh told state television: &I heard sounds of gunfire after we
We went to a room next to the shrine, this lowlife came and fired a barrage of shots
Then (the bullet) hit my arm and leg, it hit my wife&s back, but thank God my child was not hit, he is seven years old.&The attack in Shiraz
took place at the end of a day of confrontations across the country between security forces and protesters, with video footage showing some
of the most violent clashes in more than a month of unrest following Amini&s death, Reuters reported.The demonstrations have become one of
the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution
A wide range of Iranians have come out onto the streets, with some calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic and the death of Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Security forces opened fire at mourners in Amini&s Kurdish home town of Saqez on Wednesday, according to a
witness.&Riot police shot mourners who gathered at the cemetery for Mahsa&s memorial ceremony … dozens have been arrested,& the witness
Iranian authorities were not available to comment.The semi-official ISNA news agency said about 10,000 people were at the cemetery, adding
that the internet was cut off after clashes between security forces and people there.Videos on social media showed crowds packing streets in
many cities and the bazaars of Tehran and some other cities shut down with people chanting &Death to Khamenei&.The post 15 dead in attack on
shrine in Iran first appeared on Ariana News.
