Iranian boy dies of wounds sustained in parade attack

Four-year-old Mohammad Taha has died at a hospital after he was wounded during Saturday’s terror attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

24 September, 2018

The boy was wearing a black shirt when he was killed [AFP]

A four-year-old boy who was wounded during Saturday's terror attack on a military parade in the Iranian city of Ahvaz has died, Iran's state TV reported on Sunday.

Deceased Mohammad Taha was shown in the report lying on his bed in a hospital.

The boy "was wearing a black shirt when he was killed because he was at a mourning ceremony," a doctor said, referring to Ashoura, an annual commemoration mounting the 7th century death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, one of Shia Islam's most beloved saints.

A photo of the wounded boy resting motionless in a soldier's arms circulated on Saturday after the shooting, which killed at least 25 people and wounded about 60 others.

State television gave a casualty toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while official news agency IRNA said those killed included women and children among spectators at the rally.

Many of the wounded were in critical condition.

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said the dead included a young girl and a former serviceman in a wheelchair.

"Of the four terrorists, three were sent to hell at the scene, while the fourth who had been wounded and arrested went to hell moments ago due to his severe wounds," Shekarchi told state television.

Khuzestan deputy governor Ali-Hossein Hosseinzadeh told the semi-official ISNA news agency that "eight to nine" troops were among those killed, as well as a journalist.

Arab separatists as well as Islamic State have claimed the attack, the deadliest in Iran in nearly a decade.

A spokesman for the Iranian military said the attackers were trained by two Gulf states, and are connected to Israel and the US.

"They are not from Daesh (Islamic State) or other groups fighting (Iran's) Islamic system ... but they are linked to America and (Israel's intelligence agency) Mossad," Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told the official news agency IRNA.

President Hassan Rohani said on Sunday that Iran was ready to confront the US and its Gulf Arab allies, accusing them of providing financial and military support for anti-government ethnic Arab groups in Iran.

"America is acting like a bully towards the rest of the world...and thinks it can act based on brute force," Rohani said.