The attack occurred on Saturday morning, as Iranian armed forces had just started a military parade in Ahvaz to mark the Sacred Defence Week, the anniversary of the day when Saddam Hussein started his war on the Iranian nation in 1980.
Reports say 25 people have been killed and over 60 wounded. Calm has been restored to the city, the state TV said.
Terrorists, wearing the uniforms of Iranian Armed Forces, opened fire on the parade’s podium, but failed to get closer to the parade. Three of them were later killed, and the other one wounded and arrested, but he also succumbed to his wounds in the hospital.
No official has been killed, but IRGC forces and civilians including a journalist are reportedly among the victims.
IRGC spokesman says the separatist group Al-Ahwazi was behind the attack. The terrorist group later claimed responsibility for the attack.
One day before the attack, the group’s leader, in a message, had congratulated Saudi Arabia on the country’s national day, calling for a more serious fight against the Islamic Republic.
Among the victims was a four-year-old boy, and a war veteran with 75% disability. The veteran, Hossein Monjazi, had lost his legs in an attack by Saddam Hussein’s forces on Iran’s southern cities during the 1980 war. He was on a wheelchair when he was hit by the terrorists’ bullets.
Shortly after the Saturday attack, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a post in his Twitter account said the terrorists had been “recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime.”
“Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks,” he added.
He also vowed that “Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defence of Iranian lives.”
Footage shows people in the city of Ahvaz, southwest of Iran, following a terrorist attack on a military parade
