Iranian media reports say all of the individuals involved in in the fatal shooting attack on religious site in the Iranian southern city of Shiraz have been arrested. All of the detainees are reportedly non-Iranian and are from the Republic of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
IRNA says the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced on November 7 that 26 persons what had a role in the October 26 terrorist attack in Shiraz have been arrested so far and that the main coordinator of the Shah-e Cheragh terrorist attack is an Azerbaijani national.
In a statement released on Monday, the Iranian intelligence agency says its forces have conducted uninterrupted intelligence and security activities following the October 26 attack, which the authorities call a “terrorist attack by Takfiris.”
The investigations and operations have reportedly resulted in the identification and arrest of all elements that have masterminded, perpetrated and supported the terrorist attack.
Moreover, a number of other elements that had entered Iran for a similar operation have been detained, the statement added.
According to the Intelligence Ministry, all of the detainees are non-Iranian and are from the Republic of Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
The main element that guided and coordinated the attack in Iran was a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan that had flown from Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Airport to Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, it said.
The statement added that the person had informed the coordinator element in the Republic of Azerbaijan immediately after arriving in Tehran and had also contacted the main operation coordinator of Daesh (ISIS) inside Afghanistan and communicated with the network of foreign nationals of Daesh as well to notify them of his presence in Tehran.
Tasnim News Agency cited the Intelligence Ministry as saying that the element that had provided support for the terrorist attack in Shiraz was an Afghan man, named Muhammad Ramez Rashidi, operating under the alias ‘Abu Basir’, while the man that fired shots at the holy shrine was a Tajik citizen named Subhon Komroni, operating under the alias ‘Abu Ayesha’.
The terrorists have reportedly been arrested in the provinces of Fars, Tehran, Alborz, Kerman, Qom and Khorasan Razavi, the statement said, noting that a number of others have been caught as they were trying to flee the country from the eastern borders.
The ministry also noted that a number of those terrorists were planning another terrorist attack in the southeastern city of Zahedan.
Hours after the raid, Reuters quoted a statement from an ISIS telegram channel saying that the group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group has reportedly also released their statement through its affiliated Amaq news agency that said one of its members had “targeted groups of Shiite refusal infidels inside the shrine.”
In the evening of October 26, a terrorist armed with a machinegun opened fire on the pilgrims and evening prayer worshippers at the Shah-e Cheragh holy shrine, killing 15 innocent people, including some women, children and elderly folks, and wounding at least 40 others.
