TEHRAN, IRAN – At least 103 people were killed in Iran on Wednesday when two bombs in quick succession struck a crowd remembering slain Gen. Qasem Soleimani on the anniversary of his assassination, state media reported.

The blasts, which state television described as a “terrorist attack,” came amid high tensions in the Middle East, a day after Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri – an ally of Iran – was killed in a drone strike on a southern Beirut suburb, according to Lebanese officials blamed Israel.

The explosions occurred near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque in Kerman, Soleimani’s southern hometown where he is buried, as supporters gathered just outside Baghdad airport to mark the fourth anniversary of his killing in a U.S. drone strike.

Kerman Deputy Governor Rahman Jalali said the explosions were a “terrorist attack.”

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

“The number of people killed rose to 103 after the terrorist attacks also resulted in those injured,” said the official IRNA news agency, which had previously reported 73 deaths.

Another 141 people were injured in the bombings, IRNA said, adding that some were in “critical condition”.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, citing informed sources, that “two bags of bombs exploded.”

“The perpetrators of this incident apparently detonated the bombs remotely,” Tasnim added.

ISNA news agency quoted Kerman Mayor Saeed Tabrizi as saying the bombs exploded ten minutes apart.
“We were on the way to the cemetery when suddenly a car stopped behind us and a trash can with a bomb exploded,” ISNA quoted an eyewitness as saying.

“We just heard the sound of the explosion and saw people falling. There was a bomb in the trash can,” the witness added.

Online footage showed crowds fleeing as security forces cordoned off the area.

• Deadly opponent –
  Images on state television showed several ambulances and rescue workers in the area.
  According to the Iranian Red Crescent, the 73 dead included three medics who were sent to the area after the first explosion.

Soleimani led the Quds Forces, the foreign operations of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and oversaw military operations across the Middle East.

Declared a “living martyr” by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while he was still alive, Soleimani was widely considered a hero for his role in defeating the Islamic State jihadist group in both Iraq and Syria.

In the eyes of many Iranians, his military and strategic capabilities were instrumental in staving off the multi-ethnic collapse of neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

Long considered a deadly adversary of the United States and its allies, Soleimani was a key regional power broker, setting Iran’s political and military agenda in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

In the days following his death in 2020 and in the run-up to his funeral in Kerman, millions gathered to mourn in a show of national unity.

A 2018 poll published by IranPoll and the University of Maryland found that Soleimani had an 83 percent popularity rating in Iran, ahead of then-President Hassan Rouhani and then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.