Ahmad 
Iran on Wednesday declared national mourning on Thursday after more than 100 people were killed in two explosions in the southern Iranian city of Kerman, near the shrine of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, coinciding with the commemoration of the fourth anniversary of his death in a US air strike in Iraq in 2020.
The blasts occurred near the Sahib al-Zaman Mosque in the southern province of Kerman, where the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force rests. State television initially reported an explosion. Later, television reported that “a second explosion was heard” at the same location.
The official IRNA news agency said the number of martyrs had risen to 103 after the deaths of people injured in the two terrorist explosions. The previous toll was that at least 73 people were killed. It also put the number of wounded at 141, some of them “in critical condition”.
State television quoted Rahman Jalali, deputy governor of Kerman province, where Soleimani hails, as saying the blasts were a “terrorist attack”.
Soleimani was held in high esteem by many Iranians and millions of them attended his funeral. Iran has previously witnessed incidents and bombings that killed dozens, most of which were claimed by separatist organizations or groups classified by the Islamic Republic as “terrorists”.