Militants kill 25 at military parade
TEHRAN, IRAN » Militants disguised as soldiers opened fire Saturday on an annual military parade in Iran’s oil-rich southwest, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 60 in the deadliest terror attack to strike the country in nearly a decade.
Women and children scattered along with oncemarching Revolutionary Guard soldiers as heavy gunfire rang out at the parade in Ahvaz, the chaos captured live on state television.
The region’s Arab separatists, once known for nighttime attacks on unguarded oil pipelines, claimed responsibility for the brazen assault.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed regional countries and their “U.S. masters” for funding and arming the separatists, issuing a stark warning as regional tensions remain high in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.
“Iran will respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.
The attack came as rows of Revolutionary Guardsmen marched down Ahvaz’s Quds, or Jerusalem, Boulevard. It was one of many parades around the country marking the start of Iran’s long 1980s war with Iraq, commemorations known as the “Sacred Defense Week.”
Journalists and onlookers turned to look toward the first shots, then the rows of marchers broke as soldiers and civilians sought cover under sustained gunfire.
Soldiers used their bodies at times to shield civilians in the melee, with one Guardsman in full dress uniform and sash carrying away a bloodied boy.