24 lifeless, 53 wounded in parade assault

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On this picture offered by the Iranian College students’ Information Company, ISNA, Revolutionary Guard members carry a wounded comrade after a capturing throughout their parade marking the 38th anniversary of Iraq’s 1980 invasion of Iran, within the southwestern metropolis of Ahvaz, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Gunmen attacked the navy parade, killing no less than eight members of the elite Revolutionary Guard and wounding 20 others, state media stated. (AP Photograph/ISNA, Shayan Haji Najaf)

UDPATE: Iran’s state-run IRNA information company says 24 persons are lifeless and 53 wounded in an assault on a navy parade within the nation’s oil-rich southwest.

The company cited “educated sources” with out elaborating. It stated gunmen had been wearing Guard uniforms and focused a riser the place navy and police commanders had been sitting.

The assault left no less than eight members of the nation’s elite Revolutionary Guard lifeless and 20 others wounded, native media reported.

No group instantly claimed accountability for the assault in Ahvaz, which noticed gunfire spray right into a crowd of marching Guardsmen, bystanders and authorities officers watching from a close-by riser.

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TEHRAN, Iran — Gunmen attacked an annual Iranian navy parade Saturday within the nation’s oil-rich southwest, killing no less than eight members of the nation’s elite Revolutionary Guard and wounding 20 others, native media reported.

No group instantly claimed accountability for the assault in Ahvaz, which noticed gunfire spray right into a crowd of marching Guardsmen, bystanders and authorities officers watching from a close-by riser. Nonetheless, Iran confronted a bloody assault final yr from the Islamic State group and Arab separatists within the area have attacked oil pipelines there prior to now.

Iran’s International Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif instantly blamed the assault on regional nations and their “U.S. masters,” additional elevating regional tensions as Tehran’s nuclear cope with world powers is in jeopardy after President Donald Trump withdrew America from the accord.

“Iran will reply swiftly and decisively in protection of Iranian lives,” he wrote on Twitter.

State tv aired footage of the aftermath of the assault on Ahvaz’s Quds, or Jerusalem, Boulevard, which like many different locations across the nation noticed an annual parade marking the beginning of Iran’s lengthy 1980s warfare with Iraq. The photographs included paramedics attempting to assist one individual in navy fatigues as different armed safety personnel shouted at one another. The semi-official ISNA information company printed images of the assault’s aftermath, with bloodied troops in gown uniforms serving to one another stroll away.

An area information company in Khuzestan province, of which Ahvaz is the capital, aired grainy cell phone footage exhibiting parade goers fleeing as troopers lay flat on the bottom. Gunfire rang out within the background.

“Safety forces have restored safety within the space however the parade has completely been disrupted,” a reporter on the scene for Iranian state tv stated by cellphone in a stay broadcast. “Individuals have been killed however we’ve got no figures but.”

© The Related Press
On this picture offered by the Iranian College students’ Information Company, ISNA, Revolutionary Guard members carry a wounded comrade after a capturing throughout their parade marking the 38th anniversary of Iraq’s 1980 invasion of Iran, within the southwestern metropolis of Ahvaz, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. Gunmen attacked the navy parade, killing no less than eight members of the elite Revolutionary Guard and wounding 20 others, state media stated. (AP Photograph/ISNA, Shayan Haji Najaf)

Zarif on Twitter stated that the gunmen had been “terrorists recruited, educated, armed & paid by a overseas regime.” He didn’t instantly elaborate. Nonetheless, Arab separatist teams within the area have launched assaults on oil pipelines there prior to now and Iran. The separatists additionally accuse Iran’s Shiite theocracy of discriminating towards its Sunni Arab residents. Iran has blamed its Mideast archrival, the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for funding their exercise.

Experiences of how the assault unfolded remained unclear instantly afterward. The state TV reporter stated the gunfire got here from a park behind a riser. The semi-official Fars information company, which is near the Guard, stated two gunmen on a bike carrying khaki uniforms carried out the assault.

The state-run IRNA information company stated over 20 individuals had been wounded, together with a girl and a toddler. The semi-official Tasnim information company stated no less than eight member of the Guard had been killed.

Khuzestan Gov. Gholamreza Shariati informed IRNA that two gunmen had been killed and different two had been arrested.

Who carried out the assault additionally remained in query. State tv instantly described the assailants as “takfiri gunmen,” a time period beforehand used to explain the Islamic State group. Iran has been deeply concerned within the combat towards IS in Iraq and has aided embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad in his nation’s lengthy warfare.

Amongst these concerned are members of the Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary pressure answerable solely to Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guard additionally has huge holdings in Iran’s economic system.

In the meantime, Guard spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif informed ISNA that an Arab separatist group carried out the assault, with out elaborating. Nonetheless, these teams prior to now beforehand have solely attacked unguarded oil pipelines at evening.

Saturday’s assault comes after a coordinated June 7, 2017 Islamic State group assault on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran. Not less than 18 individuals had been killed and greater than 50 wounded.

Khomeini led the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the Western-backed shah to grow to be Iran’s first supreme chief till his loss of life in 1989. The assault shocked Tehran, which largely has prevented militant assaults within the many years after the tumult surrounding the Islamic Revolution.

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Related Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.