An Iranian soldier stands guard at a gate at the Munthriya crossing point on the Iran-Iraq border 12 October 2003. EFE-EPA FILE/Stefan ZAKLIN

Iranian soldier shoots dead five comrades in southern Kerman city

Tehran, Jan 22 (EFE).- An Iranian soldier shot five of his comrades to death in the southern city of Kerman, where 94 people lost their lives in a twin suicide attack at the beginning of this month, Iranian media reported on Monday.

The incident occurred when the soldier entered the barracks on Sunday afternoon and shot at the soldiers in the Baghin neighborhood of Kerman, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The attacker fled, robbed two cars at gunpoint, and was arrested hours later, Kerman provincial police commander Nasser Farshid said.

At the time of his arrest, the soldier was carrying two Kalashnikov rifles with six magazines and 180 bullets.

The motives for the attack are unknown.

The city of Kerman was the scene of a double suicide bombing that killed 94 people earlier this month near the grave of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general who headed the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force until his killing by the United States in Iraq in 2020.

Hours after the explosions, the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the deadliest attacks against civilians in decades in Iran.

Three days ago, the Iranian intelligence ministry announced the deaths of two IS “terrorists” in a clash with security forces.

The two were allegedly linked to the twin suicide attacks in Kerman. EFE

ash-jlr/am/pd