More than 50 people die after two explosions near the cemetery where Qasem Soleimani is buried

The event takes place during the events for the fourth anniversary of the death of the head of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard in a US bombing in Iraq

At least 50 people have died due to two explosions that occurred this Wednesday near a cemetery in the province of Kerman (south) where Qasem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, killed in a bombing carried out by the United States, is buried. United States in January 2020 in Iraq's capital, Baghdad.

According to information collected by the Iranian news agency Tasnim, the explosions, which also left more than 70 injured, took place near the Garden of Martyrs and the Sahib al Zaman mosque during an event for the fourth anniversary of the death. of Soleimani, who died on January 3, 2020 due to the aforementioned US attack.

Thus, the Iranian media have indicated that a first explosion has left numerous victims, after which another deflagration has been recorded in the area, without the Iranian authorities having commented on the causes of the incident.

Sources cited by Tasnim have pointed out that the explosives had been placed in several bags left in the area, after which they were activated by remote control, although at the moment no group has claimed responsibility for the double attack.

Iranian security forces have reinforced their presence in the area of ​​the explosions, where numerous ambulances have also been sent to treat the victims and transfer the injured to hospitals in the city.

Thousands of people had gathered in the city to pay tribute to Soleimani, one of the victims of a drone attack carried out by the United States. Also among the dead was Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, then 'number two' of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) - a coalition of pro-government Iraqi militias supported by Iran -.

On December 6, an Iranian court sentenced the United States Government and other institutions and individuals of the North American country to pay some 50 billion dollars (more than 46 billion euros) for the death of Soleimani, after issuing dozens of arrest warrants against senior US officials, including former President Donald Trump.

The event in Kerman also takes place after the death on December 25 of Razi Mousavi, a senior official of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, in a bombing carried out by Israel against the Syrian capital, Damascus, in the midst of a rise in tensions. in the region due to the conflict unleashed after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

Mousavi was a key figure in military coordination between Iran and Syria and, according to Tehran, he carried out advisory duties on this matter in Damascus. The mission was launched in 2014 and was headed at the time by Soleimani, in what Iranian authorities described as an operation to confront the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.