A Shia cleric in the city of Zahedan, the capital of the southern province of Sistan, was shot and killed, according to the official IRNA news agency on 3 November.
“A special task force was set up to identify and arrest the perpetrators,” said local police commander Ahmad Taheri. The dead cleric is said to be Sajjad Shahraki, leader of the Mualy Mutaqian mosque, according to Alarabiya news.
Meanwhile, officials of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on 28 October, that its intelligence unit foiled a bomb attack in the southern city of Shiraz. The bomb was discovered on Maali Abad Street in Shiraz, and successfully defused.
An unnamed security source told Fars News that the “remote incendiary bomb” was found on 26 October after the deadly ISIS shooting at the Shah Cheragh shrine, which claimed the lives of 15 people, among them women and children.
Several other news reports confirm that the bomb was found and neutralized on the same day as the attack.
According to the governor of Shiraz, Lotfallah Shibani, “a person who intended to carry out a sabotage operation in one of the busy streets of Shiraz was identified and arrested with the timely knowledge of the security and police forces.”
On the other hand, A gunman killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more after opening fire on worshipers at a pilgrimage site in Iran’s city of Shiraz on 26 October.
According to reports by the state news agency IRNA, the shooting took place at the Shah Cheragh shrine.
Initial reports claimed the attack was carried out by three gunmen, and that security forces managed to arrest two, while the third was still on the loose.
However, Amaq News Agency, a news outlet linked to ISIS, announced the organization’s responsibility for the attack on the shrine, specifying that the attack was carried out by just one member.
Earlier this year in August, Iran arrested 10 militants linked to ISIS. According to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence, the suspects planned to carry out terrorist attacks on religious gatherings.
More than 1000 people have been charged in Tehran in connection with street protests that started after the death of Mahsa Amini. Four of them could face the death penalty, authorities announced on 24 October.
