At least 103 people killed in two explosions in southeastern Iran

(Patria) - At least 103 people were killed and 141 wounded in an attack that occurred yesterday near a shrine in Iran where the fourth anniversary of the death of the country's former military commander Qasem Soleimani was being observed.

Soleimani, we recall, was killed in 2020 in a US drone strike.

He was the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force and the architect of Iran's military operations in the Middle East. The US eliminated him in January 2020 in Iraq, reports Hina.

Iranian state television earlier reported the first and then a second explosion during a ceremony in the southeastern city of Kerman, near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque, where Soleimani's shrine is located.

The deputy governor of Kerman province, Rahman Jalalirekao, said the explosions were a "terrorist attack".

The death toll rose to 103 after the deaths of people who were seriously wounded in the explosions, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Another 141 people were wounded in the bombings, IRNA said, adding that some were in "critical condition".

Iran's Tasnim news agency, citing reliable sources, reported that "two bags of bombs exploded" near the shrine.

The bombs were apparently detonated by remote control, the agency added.

The ISNA news agency quoted Kerman mayor Saeed Tabrizi as saying the bombs exploded 10 minutes apart.

Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said security forces would respond "quickly and forcefully".

He noted that most of the victims died in the second bombing.

- Our police forces are on alert and will bring to justice those who committed this crime - the minister announced in a statement on state television.

No one is openly speculating for now about who the perpetrators of the attack might be.