The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 84 people at a memorial service for Qassem Soleimani in Iran.

He Islamic State This was claimed on Thursday Double suicide attack That at least 84 people were killed in the southern Iranian city of Kerman on Wednesday during celebrations marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of an Iranian commander. Qasim Soleimani at the hands of the United States.

The terrorist group said in a statement released through its Telegram channels Two of its members “went to greater concentration”.

Near the tomb of Suleimani in Karman eThey detonated their explosive belts“, which killed 84 people and injured more than 200, according to Iranian authorities, while marking the fourth anniversary of the general’s death.

State agency this Thursday IRNA reported it The investigation pointed to a suicide bomber In the first explosion, the identity of which has not yet been established.

“In the first incident, the suicide bomber was a person who was completely disintegrated as a result of the explosion. And the identity of the suicide bomber is under investigation,” said a source IRNA.

For its part, the Persian regime quickly blamed the United States and Israel for Wednesday’s attack. “Washington says that the United States and Israel have nothing to do with the terrorist attack in Kerman, Iran. Really? (…) Don’t be wrong. The responsibility for this crime lies with the American and Zionist regime, and terrorism is only a tool,” Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s advisor Mohammad Jamshidi said.

The United States denied that Israel or itself was involved “in any way,” with a senior official saying “It looks like a terrorist attack, the kind of thing ISIS (Islamic State) has done in the past“

The attack comes amid tensions in the Middle East and comes a day after the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas’s number two, Iranian ally Saleh al-Arori, was killed in an attack in Beirut that Lebanese authorities attributed to Israel.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday blamed the Islamic Republic’s “evil and criminal enemies” without naming them and vowed a “stern response”.

Soleimani, who heads the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guards, was also a staunch foe of the Sunni extremist group Islamic State, which has carried out attacks in Shiite-majority Iran.

Revered by many Iranians, Soleimani oversaw Iranian military operations across the Middle East and millions attended his funeral in 2020.

This Iranian authorities called for mass protests against the Karman blasts After the weekly Friday prayers, when officials have said the dead will be buried.

(With information from AFP and EFE)