The Interior Minister of Tajikistan Ramazon Rahimzoda has confirmed participation of Tajik nationals in terrorist attacks in Iran.
The identities of the perpetrators of the explosions in Iran – citizens of Tajikistan — have been established due to cooperation with the Tajik authorities, the Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on February 15.
The minister, however, did not tell their names didn't say who they were, though Asia-Plus’s reporter asked for clarification on this issue.
At the same time, Rahimzoda noted that appropriate specific measures would be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
The minister further added that five attempted terrorist attacks were identified last year in Tajikistan itself and five people were arrested on suspicion of being involved in those attempted terrorist attack.
Recall, Eurasianet reported on January 10 that Taliban-linked media outlet Almirsad claimed that the both Kerman suicide bomber attackers were Tajiks.
At least 91 people were killed and 284 others, including women and children, wounded in twin blasts that occurred at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani in the Iranian city of Kerman on the evening of January 3. The first blast was about 700 meters from the tomb and the second was a kilometer away.
The memorial was marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Qassem Soleimani, one of the most powerful military commanders in Iran, who was assassinated by a U.S. drone in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
Soleimani was buried in his hometown of Kerman after a funeral that drew millions of mourners across Iran.
IRNA reported on January 4 that “the Daesh (Daesh is the acronym for the group's full Arabic name, al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kerman.”
Speaking in a TV program late on January 6, Kerman Prosecutor Mahdi Bakhshi said that all perpetrators of the Kerman terrorist attacks were arrested, IRNA reported on January 7.
More than 60 bombs have been discovered in other provinces, Bakhshi was cited as saying.
The Kerman attack is reportedly not the first time ISIS-K tapped its Central Asian jihadist contingent to commit acts of violence outside of its local Afghanistan-Pakistan zone of operations or even against Iran itself. ISIS-K has targeted the Islamic Republic and sites of significance to Shia Muslims in the past. Two attacks, less than a year apart, took aim at the Shah Cheragh shrine in Shiraz.
In August, a gunman entered the Shah Cheragh shrine and fatally shot one parishioner and injured three others. Iran credited the assault to ISIS-K, and reports claimed that 10 people, all foreign nationals, had been arrested in relation to the attack. An earlier attack occurred in October 2022 that claimed the lives of 13 people and injured 40 others.
The shooters in both incidents were reportedly ISIS-K-linked and from Tajikistan.
