Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Leaders try to link protests to attack
DUBAI: Iran’s supreme leader and its president tried on Thursday to link the nationwide protests roiling the country to an Islamic State-claimed gun attack on a famous mosque that killed 15 people.
The comments by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi come as Iran’s theocracy has been unable to contain the demonstrations, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by the country’s morality police.
The protests, the most serious unrest to grip Iran since its 2009 Green Movement demonstraOn tions, have grown to encompass anger over Iran’s cratered economy and its theocracy as well. Over 200 people have been killed amid a crackdown in Iran, with thousands others arrested by police, activists say.
Wednesday, a gunman opened fire on worshippers at Shiraz’s Shah Cheragh mosque, the second-holiest site in Iran. State media said at least 15 people had been killed in the assault, which authorities initially attributed to multiple gunmen.
Footage released Thursday by authorities showed the gunman walking near the mosque with a large backpack, then later moving into the mosque with a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle. Barefoot worshippers inside try to flee as the man opens fire, then hunts those hiding behind whatever they could find. Blood could be seen on the mosque’s floor. Riot police later captured the man, who authorities have yet to identify.