Iran says bomb attack foiled in Shiraz on day of shooting

This Iranian military group told Sepah News that it avoided a bomb scare.

Members of special IRGC forces attend a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2022. (photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)
Members of special IRGC forces attend a rally marking the annual Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day, on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2022.
(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that its intelligence unit had foiled a bomb attack in the southern city of Shiraz, scene of a deadly shooting at a shrine on Wednesday.

Fars news, close to the Revolutionary Guards, quoted an unnamed security official as saying the bomb was found on Wednesday after the shrine attack. "It was a remote incendiary bomb," it said.

Sepah News - the Guards' own news agency, which first reported the incident - said the bomb was found in the city's busy Mo'ali Abad Street.

Protests in Iran

The attack took place amid widespread anti-government protests. Iran's clerical rulers have faced nationwide demonstrations since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, on Sept. 16.

Wednesday's shooting, which was claimed by Islamic State, killed 15 worshippers at the Shah Cheragh shrine.

 Attack at the Shah Cheragh Shrine in Shiraz, Iran (credit: REUTERS)
Attack at the Shah Cheragh Shrine in Shiraz, Iran (credit: REUTERS)

Nationwide demonstrations organized by the government against the shooting were held following Friday prayers. Funerals were also due to take place for the victims.

Khamenei vows to take revenge

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Thursday to retaliate against those threatening the country's security, and officials said they had arrested a gunman who carried out the attack at the shrine.