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Suspects arrested over Pakistan mosque blast, police focus on how bomber got in

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Police investigating a suicide bombing that killed more than 100 people at a Pakistan mosque said on Tuesday that several people had been arrested, and they could not rule out the possibility that the bomber had internal assistance evading security checks.

The bombing was the most deadly in a decade to hit Peshawar, a restive northwestern city near the Afghan border, and all but three of those killed were police, making it most suffered by Pakistan’s security forces in a single attack in recent history.

The bomber struck on Monday as hundreds of worshippers gathered for noon prayers in a mosque that was purpose built for the police and their families living in a highly fortified area.

“We have found some excellent clues, and based on these clues we have made some major arrests,” Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters.

“We can’t rule out internal assistance but since the investigation is still in progress, I will not be able to share more details.”

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Investigators, who include counter-terrorism and intelligence officials, are focusing on how the attacker managed to breach the military and police checkpoints leading into the Police Lines district, a colonial-era, self-contained encampment in the city centre that is home to middle- and lower-ranking police personnel and their families.

[1/6] Rescue workers clear the rubble as they search for victims, after a suicide blast in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said the bomber was in the first row in the prayer hall when he struck. Remains of the attacker had been recovered, provincial Police Chief Moazzam Jah Ansari told Reuters.

“We believe the attackers are not an organised group,” he added.

The most active militant group in the area, the Pakistani Taliban, also called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has denied responsibility for the attack, which no group has claimed so far. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had told parliament a breakaway faction of the TTP was to blame.

The blast demolished the upper storey of the mosque. It was is the deadliest in Peshawar since twin suicide bombings at All Saints Church killed scores of worshippers in September 2013, in what remains the deadliest attack on the country’s Christian minority.

Peshawar sits on the edge of the Pashtun tribal lands, a region mired in violence for the past two decades.

The TTP is an umbrella group for Sunni and sectarian Islamist factions opposed to the government in Islamabad. The group has recently stepped up attacks against police.

Reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Suicide bomber breaches high security, kills 47 in Pakistani mosque

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  • Bomber breached highly fortified Red Zone compound
  • Up to 400 worshippers in prayer when bomber blew up
  • Majority of the dead were police officials
  • No immediate claim of responsibility for attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 30 (Reuters) – A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded mosque in a highly fortified security compound in Pakistan on Monday, killing 47 people, the latest attack by resurgent Islamist militants targeting police in the unstable country.

Police said the attacker appeared to have passed through several barricades manned by security forces to get into the “Red Zone” compound that houses police and counter-terrorism offices in the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar.

“It was a suicide bombing,” Peshawar Police Chief Ijaz Khan told Reuters. At least 47 people were killed and 176 wounded, he said, many of them critically.

It came a day before an International Monetary Fund team mission to Islamabad to initiate talks on unlocking funding for the South Asian economy hit by a balance of payment crisis.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack.

Officials said the bomber detonated his load at the moment hundreds of people lined up to say their prayers.

“We have found traces of explosives,” Khan told reporters, adding that a security lapse had clearly occurred as the bomber had slipped through the most secured area of the compound.

An inquiry was under way into how the attacker breached such an elite security cordon and whether there was any inside help.

Khan said the mosque hall was packed with up to 400 worshippers, and that most of the dead were police officers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the worst in Peshawar since March 2022 when an Islamic State suicide bombing killed at least 58 people in a Shi’ite Muslim mosque during Friday prayers.

`ALLAH IS THE GREATEST`

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Geo TV that the bomber was standing in the first row of worshippers.

“As the prayer leader said ‘Allah is the greatest’, there was a big bang,” Mushtaq Khan, a policeman with a head wound, told reporters from his hospital bed.

“We couldn’t figure out what happened as the bang was deafening. It threw me out of the veranda. The walls and roof fell on me. Thanks to God, he saved me.”

The explosion brought down the upper storey of the mosque, trapping dozens of worshippers in the rubble. Live TV footage showed rescuers cutting through the collapsed rooftop to make their way down and tend to victims caught in the wreckage.

“We can’t say how many are still under it,” said provincial governor Haji Ghulam Ali.

“The sheer scale of the human tragedy is unimaginable,” Sharif said. “This is no less than an attack on Pakistan. The nation is overwhelmed by a deep sense of grief. I have no doubt terrorism is our foremost national security challenge.”

Witnesses described chaotic scenes as the police and the rescuers scrambled to rush the wounded to hospitals.

Sharif, who appealed to employees of his party to donate blood at the hospitals, said anyone targeting Muslims during prayer had nothing to do with Islam.

“The U.S. mission in Pakistan expressed deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the horrific attack,” Washington’s embassy said a statement.

Peshawar, which straddles the edge of Pakistan’s tribal districts bordering Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Islamist militant groups including Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban.

Reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Asif Shahzad; Editing by Miral Fahmy, Simon Cameron-Moore, Bernadette Baum and Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Israel hits Gaza as conflict flares after West Bank clashes

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  • Rockets from Gaza set off alarm in Israeli communities
  • Cross-border fire followed Israeli raid in West Bank
  • Israeli raid killed at least nine Palestinians
  • Violence has surged in West Bank in past year

JERUSALEM/GAZA, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Israeli jets struck Gaza overnight on Friday in retaliation for two rockets fired by Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions after one of the worst days of violence in the occupied West Bank in years.

The rockets fired from Gaza overnight set off alarms in Israeli communities near the border with the southern coastal strip controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas but there were no reports of casualties.

The cross-border fire came after an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday that killed at least nine Palestinians, including militant gunmen and at least two civilians, the highest single-day death toll in years.

Another man died in a separate incident in al-Ramm outside Jerusalem, bringing the Palestinian death toll so far in 2023 to at least 30.

The raid, the latest in a near-daily series of clashes in the West Bank over the past year, came days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to visit Israel and the West Bank.

Palestinian officials said CIA director William Burns, who was visiting Israel and the West Bank on a trip arranged before the latest violence, would meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. No comment was immediately available from U.S. officials in Jerusalem.

The months of violence, which surged after a spate of lethal attacks in Israel last year, have drawn fears the already unpredictable conflict could spiral out of control, triggering a broader confrontation between Palestinians and Israel.

[1/2] Smoke and flames rise during Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Arafat Barbakh

The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Thursday saying it was “deeply concerned” with the violence in the West Bank and urged both sides to de-escalate the conflict.

The United Nations, Egypt and Qatar have also urged calm, Palestinian officials said.

In Gaza, large rallies were planned for the afternoon following Friday prayers as residents inured to years of exchanges of rockets and airstrikes between Israel and Hamas feared further clashes.

“We didn’t sleep the whole night, bombing and missiles,” said 50 year-old Abdallah Al-Husary. “There is worry and there is fear, any minute a war can happen. With any clash in the West Bank, there can be war along the borders in Gaza.”

In the aftermath of Thursday’s raid, the Palestinian Authority, which has limited governing powers in the West Bank, said it was suspending a security cooperation arrangement with Israel that is widely credited with helping to keep order in the territory and preventing attacks against Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to power this year at the head of one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history, said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation, although he ordered security forces to be on alert.

The Israeli Defence Force said Friday’s air strikes in Gaza targeted an underground rocket manufacturing site and a military base used by Hamas.

Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Dan Williams and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Edmund Blair

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nidal Al-Mughrabi

Thomson Reuters

A senior correspondent with nearly 25 years’ experience covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict including several wars and the signing of the first historic peace accord between the two sides.

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Kabul hotel attack ends as three gunmen killed; two foreigners injured

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KABUL, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Armed men opened fire on Monday inside a hotel in central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals in an attack that ended when at least three gunmen were killed by security forces, the Taliban-run administration said.

Two foreigners were injured while trying to escape by jumping from the hotel balcony, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter.

Kabul’s Emergency Hospital, run by an Italian non-profit near the attacked hotel in the Shahr-e-Naw area, reported receiving 21 casualties – 18 injured and three dead on arrival.

Taliban sources said the attack was carried out at Longan Hotel where Chinese and other foreigners usually stay.

Videos posted on Twitter by a journalist in Kabul and verified by Reuters showed smoke billowing out of one of the floors amid sounds of gunshots, while a person was seen trying to escape the attack by jumping out of a hotel window.

[1/3] View of a hotel fire in Shahr-e-Naw neighborhood where gunfire was also heard in Kabul, Afghanistan December 12, 2022 in this still image from social media video obtained by REUTERS

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the attack took place around 2.30 p.m. local time, with residents in the area saying they heard a powerful explosion followed by gunfire.

The attack came a day after China’s ambassador met the Afghan deputy foreign minister to discuss security-related matters and sought more attention on the protection of its embassy.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said the attack happened near a Chinese guesthouse and its embassy in Kabul was closely monitoring the situation.

The embassy did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Several bombings have taken place in Afghanistan in recent months, including an attack on the Pakistan embassy earlier this month and a suicide blast near the Russian embassy in September. Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State.

The Taliban, which seized power after U.S.-led foreign forces withdrew in August 2021, have said they are focused on securing the country.

Reporting by Kabul newsroom and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Miral Fahmy, William Maclean and Arun Koyyur

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Indonesian suicide bomber leaves note criticising new criminal code

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BANDUNG, Indonesia, Dec 7 (Reuters) – A suspected Islamist militant, angered by Indonesia’s new criminal code, killed one other person and wounded at least 10 in a suicide bomb attack at a police station in the city of Bandung on Wednesday, authorities said.

The suicide bomber was believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State-inspired group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) and had previously been jailed on terrorism charges, Indonesian police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a news conference.

The police chief said the attacker, identified as Agus Sujatno, was released in late 2021 and investigators had found dozens of documents protesting the country’s controversial new criminal code at the crime scene.

“We found dozens of papers protesting the newly ratified criminal code,” he said.

Though there are sharia-based provisions in the new criminal code ratified by parliament on Tuesday, Islamist hardliners could have been angered by other articles that could be used to crackdown on the propagation of extremist ideologies, analysts say.

West Java police chief Suntana earlier told Metro TV that authorities had found a blue motorbike at the scene, which they believed was used by the attacker.

Attached to the bike was a note carrying a message decrying the new criminal code as “an infidel product,” Suntana said.

Todd Elliott, a senior security analyst at Concord Consulting in Jakarta, said it was likely the attack had been planned for some time and was an ideological rejection of the country’s new laws.

[1/13] Indonesia Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (INAFIS) officers investigate following a blast at a district police station, that according to authorities was a suspected suicide bombing, in Bandung, West Java province, Indonesia, December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

“While all the attention is on some of these sharia-based provisions in the criminal code and how that is an indication of the spread of conservative Islam in Indonesia, there are also changes in the criminal code that hardliners would not support,” he said.

“Including outlawing any ideology that goes against the state ideology, Pancasila, and that would also include extremist ideology.”

Video footage from the scene of Wednesday’s attack showed smoke rising from the damaged police station, with debris n the ground.

“Suddenly I heard the sound of an explosion… I saw a few police officers come out from the station and they couldn’t walk properly,” Hanes, a 21-year-old street vendor who witnessed the explosion told Reuters.

Islamist militants have in recent years carried out attacks in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, including at churches, police stations and venues frequented by foreigners.

Members of JAD were responsible for a series of suicide church bombings in the city of Surabaya in 2018. Those attacks were perpetrated by three families, who also attached suicide vests to their young children, and killed at least 30 people.

In 2021, a pair of JAD newlyweds carried out a suicide bomb attack at a cathedral in Makassar, killing only themselves.

In an effort to crack down on militants, Indonesia created a tough new anti-terrorism law after suicide bombings linked to JAD.

The group, which is now largely splintered, has been significantly weakened by a wave of arrests by the counterterrorism agency in recent years, analysts say.

Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy, Stefanno Sulaiman, Yuddy Cahya Budiman and Kate Lamb; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Ed Davies, Gerry Doyle & Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Twin blasts in Jerusalem kill one in suspected Palestinian attack

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  • At least 14 injured in two blasts at bus stops
  • Hamas praises attack, does not claim responsibility
  • Explosions recall bus bomb attacks in 2000-05

JERUSALEM, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Two bombs exploded at bus stops on Jerusalem’s outskirts on Wednesday, killing a 16-year-old boy and wounding at least 14 other people in what appeared to be an attack by Palestinian militants, Israeli authorities said.

Police blamed the initial blast, during morning rush hour, on an improvised bomb planted near the city exit. The second – some 30 minutes later – hit a junction leading to an outlying settlement.

“There has not been such a coordinated attack in Jerusalem for many years,” police spokesman Eli Levi told Army Radio.

The devices were hidden in bags, packed with nails and appeared to have been detonated remotely by mobile phone, Kan Radio said.

CCTV footage showed the moment of the first explosion with a sudden cloud of smoke billowing from the bus stop. The site, cordoned off by emergency services, was strewn with debris.

Ambulance services said 12 people were taken to hospital from the first blast and three were wounded in the second. A 16-year-old Canadian-Israeli national succumbed to his injuries.

The United Nations, the European Union, United States and Canada condemned the attacks.

“Terrorism is a dead-end that accomplishes absolutely nothing,” the U.S. Embassy said on Twitter.

Benjamin Netanyahu, now negotiating with allies from religious and right-wing parties to form a new government after elections, said he would do everything to restore security.

[1/6] A damaged bus is seen following an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem November 23, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

“We still have a battle against terror that has lifted its head again,” the veteran former prime minister told reporters.

In Gaza, a spokesman for Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the Jerusalem explosions but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua linked the blasts to “crimes conducted by the Occupation (Israel) and the settlers”.

The explosions, which echoed the bus bombings that were a hallmark of the Palestinian uprising of 2000-05, follow months of rising tension in the occupied West Bank after Israel launched a crackdown in response to deadly Palestinian attacks in its cities.

The coordinated blasts appeared to be a step up from a string of mostly Palestinian lone-wolf stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks this year.

Ultra-nationalist Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of Netanyahu’s likely coalition partners, demanded tough action, saying security forces should go “house to house in search of guns and restore our deterrence power.”

Separately, Palestinian gunmen late on Tuesday seized the body of an Israeli Druze high school student from a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank city of Jenin following a car crash nearby, the teenager’s uncle told Reuters.

The Druze are an Arab community in Israel who serve in its armed forces. The youth’s father and some Israeli officials said the gunmen took him off life support before carrying him away. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm his condition.

Their reasons for the seizure were unclear. But families of slain Palestinian militants whose remains are in Israeli custody called for an exchange of corpses.

A diplomat source told Reuters the United Nations was mediating over the release of the teenager’s body and Israeli military said it expected that would happen soon.

Reporting by Maayan Lubell and Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Ali Sawafta in Ramallah Writing by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Kim Coghill, Robert Birsel, Gareth Jones and Mark Heinrich and Bernadette Baum

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ousted Pakistan PM Imran Khan shot in shin in what aides call assassination attempt

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  • Former cricketer Imran Khan shot in the shin
  • Was leading march on Islamabad to demand snap elections
  • ‘It was a clear assassination attempt,’ says aide
  • Pakistan has long history of political violence
  • White House condemns attack on Khan

LAHORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the shin on Thursday when his anti-government protest convoy came under attack in the east of the country in what his aides said was a clear assassination attempt by his rivals.

Khan, ousted as prime minister in a parliamentary confidence vote in April, was six days into a protest procession bound for Islamabad, standing and waving to thousands of cheering supporters from the roof of a container truck, when the shots rang out.

Several in his convoy were wounded in the attack in Wazirabad, nearly 200 km (120 miles) from the capital. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said a suspect had been arrested.

“It was a clear assassination attempt. Khan was hit but he’s stable. There was a lot of bleeding,” Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Reuters.

“If the shooter had not been stopped by people there, the entire PTI leadership would have been wiped out.”

Khan was out of danger, said physician Faisal Sultan, who is also the head of the Lahore hospital where the former premier was being treated. He told journalists that initial scans and x-rays showed bullet fragments in Khan’s leg.

Police have yet to comment on the attack, which drew condemnation from the White House.

In a video statement, Asad Umar, one of Khan’s top aides, said Khan believed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and intelligence official Major-General Faisal Naseer were behind the attack. Umar did not provide any evidence to back the allegation.

Sanaullah, speaking to journalists alongside Aurangzeb, rejected the allegations and said the Sharif-led coalition government demanded an independent high-powered investigation. Sharif also condemned the shooting and ordered an immediate investigation.

The military’s media wing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation against Naseer.

In a previous statement, the military called the shooting “highly condemnable”. Khan, 70, had accused the military of backing the plan to oust him from power. Last week, the military held a news conference to deny the claims.

Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister of Punjab, the province in which Khan’s party is in power and where the shooting occurred, said he was forming a joint investigation team. Elahi said that it initially appeared that there were two assailants.

“I heard a burst of bullet shots after which I saw Imran Khan and his aides fall down on the truck,” witness Qazzafi Butt told Reuters.

“Later, a gunman shot a single shot but was grabbed by an activist of Khan’s party.”

In purported footage of the shooting, being run by multiple channels but unverified by Reuters, a man with a handgun is grabbed from behind by one of the people at the gathering. He then tries to flee.

TV channels showed a suspected shooter, who looked to be in his twenties or thirties. He said he wanted to kill Khan and had acted alone.

[1/6] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is helped after he was shot in the shin in Wazirabad, Pakistan November 3, 2022 in this still image obtained from video. Urdu Media via REUTERS

“He (Khan) was misleading the people, and I couldn’t bear it,” the suspect said in the video. The information minister confirmed the footage was recorded by police.

No one has yet been charged with the attack.

Khan, who after his removal from office was convicted by Pakistan’s election commission of selling state gifts unlawfully, charges that he denied, had been whipping up large crowds on his way to Islamabad in a campaign to topple Sharif’s government.

One member of Khan’s party said there were reports one person had been killed in the attack.

PROTESTERS ON STREETS

Handsome and charismatic, Khan first grabbed international attention as a cricketer in the early 1970s.

First known as an aggressive fast-paced bowler with a distinctive leaping action, he went on to become one of the world’s best all-rounders and a hero in cricket-mad Pakistan, captaining a team of wayward stars with bleak prospects to one-day World Cup victory in 1992.

His first wife, Jemima Goldsmith, who lives in Britain, expressed relief that Khan was not in danger on Twitter.

“The news we dread … Thank God he’s okay,” she wrote. “And thank you from his sons to the heroic man in the crowd who tackled the gunman.”

Pakistan has a long history of political violence. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007 in a gun and bomb attack after holding an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi, next to Islamabad.

Her father and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in the same city in 1979 after being deposed in a military coup.

Local media on Thursday showed footage of Khan waving to the crowd after being evacuated from his vehicle after the shooting as people ran and shouted.

He was taken to hospital as protesters poured out on to streets in some parts of the country and PTI leaders demanded justice.

PTI colleague Faisal Javed, who was also wounded and had blood stains on his clothes, told Geo TV from the hospital: “Several of our colleagues are wounded. We heard that one of them is dead.”

Since being ousted, Khan has held rallies across Pakistan, stirring opposition against a government that is struggling to bring the economy out of the crisis that Khan’s administration left it in.

He had planned to lead the motorised caravan slowly north up the Grand Trunk Road to Islamabad, drawing more support along the way before entering the capital.

Additional reporting by Aftab Ahmed, Sudipto Ganguly and Tanvi Mehta; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by John Stonestreet and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Kenya deploys troops to Congo to help end decades of bloodshed

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NAIROBI, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Kenya’s President William Ruto on Wednesday officially deployed troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to join an East African regional force aiming to end decades of bloodshed.

The seven countries of the East African Community (EAC), which Congo joined this year, agreed in April to set up a joint force to fight militia groups in Congo’s east. The Kenyan troops will join a contingent from Burundi.

Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nation’s largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 armed groups continue to operate across large swathes of east Congo, including the M23 rebels, which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the claims.

Uganda has already sent troops into Congo as part of separate deployment to chase down an Islamic State-linked armed militants, one of the warring groups in eastern Congo.

“We all have a stake in a stable Democratic Republic of Congo and its security,” Ruto said at a send-off ceremony for the troops in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

[1/2] A member of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) reacts after the flag presentation of the troops under the East Africa Community Regional Force (EACRF), ahead of their deployment to the Peace and Security mission in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, at the Embakasi garrison in Nairobi, Kenya November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Ruto said the United Nations and African Union had given “tacit” backing to the Kenyan deployment.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was not a mandating authority, and that decisions on whether or not to finance such missions were out of his purview.

A U.N. source told Reuters there has been some uncertainty around Kenya’s deployment because Nairobi wanted international funding, which requires an official mandate from the U.N. Security Council or the African Union.

“We have been working very hard to mobilise the international community to support the east African force,” Kenyan Defence Minister Aden Duale said at the event.

On Wednesday morning several thousand people held a demonstration in the city of Bukavu, eastern Congo, against the regional force because, they said, some of their “enemies” are member countries of the East African Community.

Reporting by Edwin Waita, Hereward Holland, and Mukelwa Hlatshwayo; Additional reporting by Crispin Kyalangalilwa; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by James Macharia Chege, William Maclean and Sandra Maler

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Iran’s Khamenei vows revenge after deadly attack on shrine

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DUBAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme Leader vowed on Thursday to retaliate against those threatening the country’s security after the massacre of Shi’ite pilgrims, an assault claimed by Islamic State which threatens to inflame tensions amid widespread anti-government protests.

In a statement read on state TV, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the assailants “will surely be punished” and called on Iranians to unite.

“We all have a duty to deal with the enemy and its traitorous or ignorant agents,” said Khamenei a day after the attack killed 15 people.

Khamenei’s call for unity appeared to be directed at mostly government loyalists and not protesters whose nearly six-week old movement is seen as a threat to national security by authorities.

Iran’s clerical rulers have faced nationwide protests since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, on Sept. 16.

Iranians have called for the death of Khamenei and an end to the Islamic Republic during the protests, which have become one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution, drawing many Iranians on to the streets.

Iranian officials said they had arrested a gunman who carried out the attack at the Shah Cheragh shrine in the city of Shiraz. State media blamed “takfiri terrorists” – a label Tehran uses for hardline Sunni Muslim militants such as Islamic State.

A senior official said the suspected attacker was in critical condition after being shot by police.

“The shrine terrorist is in critical condition… and we have not been able to interrogate him yet,” said deputy provincial governor Easmail Mohebipour, quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

CCTV footage broadcast on state TV on Thursday showed the attacker entering the shrine after hiding an assault rifle in a bag and shooting as worshippers tried to flee and hide in corridors.

Islamic State, which once posed a security threat across the Middle East, has claimed previous violence in Iran, including deadly twin attacks in 2017 that targeted parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Since the peak of its power, when it ruled millions of people in the Middle East and struck fear across the world with deadly bombings and shootings, Islamic State has slipped back into the shadows.

Iran often accuses the West and its regional rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia of fomenting attacks. Saudi Arabia denies this and Israel usually declines to comment on its moves against the Islamic Republic.

Wednesday’s killing of Shi’ite pilgrims came on the same day that Iranian security forces clashed with increasingly strident protesters marking 40 days since Amini’s death.

Iranian human rights groups said there were unconfirmed reports that some members of Amini’s family are under house arrest. Reuters could not verify these reports. Reuters tried to reach Amini’s father and brother.

The authorities, who have accused the United States and other Western countries of fomenting what they call “riots”, have yet to declare a death toll, but state media have said about 30 members of the security forces have been killed.

The activist news agency HRANA said in a posting that at least 252 protesters had been killed in the unrest, including 36 minors.

It said 30 members of the security forces were killed and more than 13,800 people had been arrested as of Wednesday in protests in 122 cities and towns and some 109 universities.

Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Islamic State claims Iran shrine attack, Iran vows response

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  • Women and children among casualties – state media
  • President says Iran will respond to attack
  • Protesters mark 40 days since Mahsa Amini’s death in custody

DUBAI, Oct 26 (Reuters) – The militant group Islamic State said it carried out an attack on a Shi’ite Muslim shrine in Iran on Wednesday which killed 15 people, escalating tensions in a country reeling from a wave of protests and prompting warnings of a response from Tehran.

Iranian officials said they had arrested a gunman who carried out the attack at the Shah Cheragh shrine in the city of Shiraz. State media blamed “takfiri terrorists” – a label Tehran uses for hardline Sunni Muslim militants like Islamic State.

The group has claimed previous attacks in Iran, including deadly twin bombings in 2017 which targeted Iran’s parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Wednesday’s killing of Shi’ite pilgrims came on the same day that Iranian security forces clashed with increasingly strident protesters marking the 40-day anniversary since the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi blamed the protests sweeping Iran for paving the ground for the Shiraz attack, and President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran would respond, according to state media.

“Experience shows that Iran’s enemies, after failing to create a split in the nation’s united ranks, take revenge through violence and terror,” said Raisi, speaking before Islamic State released its claim of responsibility.

“This crime will definitely not go unanswered, and the security and law enforcement forces will teach a lesson to those who designed and carried out the attack.”

The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the attacker shot an employee at the shrine entrance before his rifle jammed and he was chased by bystanders.

He managed to fix his gun and opened fire on his pursuers, before entering a courtyard and shooting worshippers. Several women and children were among the dead, it said.

A witness at Shah Cheragh told state television: “I heard sounds of gunfire after we prayed. We went to a room next to the shrine, this lowlife came and fired a barrage of shots. Then (the bullet) hit my arm and leg, it hit my wife’s back, but thank God my child was not hit, he is seven years old.”

DAY OF CLASHES

The attack in Shiraz took place at the end of a day of confrontations across the country between security forces and protesters, with video footage showing some of the most violent clashes in more than a month of unrest following Amini’s death.

The demonstrations have become one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution. A wide range of Iranians have come out on to the streets, with some calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic and the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Security forces opened fire at mourners in Amini’s Kurdish home town of Saqez on Wednesday, according to a witness.

[1/7] A bullet hole seen after a terrorist attack at the Shah Cheragh Shrine in Shiraz, Iran October 26, 2022. Amin Berenjkar/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

“Riot police shot mourners who gathered at the cemetery for Mahsa’s memorial ceremony … dozens have been arrested,” the witness said. Iranian authorities were not available to comment.

The semi-official ISNA news agency said about 10,000 people were at the cemetery, adding that the internet was cut off after clashes between security forces and people there.

Videos on social media showed crowds packing streets in many cities and the bazaars of Tehran and some other cities shut down with people chanting “Death to Khamenei”.

1500tasvir, a Twitter account focused on Iran protests with 280,000 followers, reported a “brutal crackdown” on protesters in multiple locations in Tehran, including a gathering at the Tehran Medical Association.

Video footage on social media appeared to show members of the Basij militia shooting at protesters in Tehran.

Other videos showed protesters chasing riot police and throwing stones. They also showed protesters in the holy Shi’ite city of Mashhad setting fire to a riot policeman’s motorbike. In Tehran, a protester hit a policeman, while in the city of Qazvin riot police opened fire on protesters.

Some protesters chanted: “We will fight, we will die, we will get Iran back” from its clerical rulers.

Reuters was not able to verify the authenticity of the footage.

State news agency IRNA said a member of the elite Revolutionary Guards was shot dead “by rioters” in the western city of Malayer.

An Iranian former pro-reform official said the spread of the protests appeared to have taken authorities by surprise and contrasted with the establishment’s assertions that support for the Islamic system is overwhelming.

While some analysts said prospects for the imminent dawn of a new political order are slim, activists said a wall of fear had fallen and the path to a new revolution was not reversible.

Students have played a pivotal role in the protests, with dozens of universities on strike. Hundreds of schoolgirls have joined in, chanting “Freedom, Freedom, Freedom,” despite fierce crackdowns by security forces.

State media and hardline officials have branded protesters “hypocrites, monarchists, thugs and seditionists”.

Rights groups said at least 250 protesters had been killed, including teenage girls, and thousands had been arrested.

The authorities, who have accused the United States and other Western countries of fomenting what they call “riots”, have yet to announce a death toll but state media have said around 30 members of the security forces have been killed.

Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Dominic Evans
Editing by Michael Georgy, Nick Macfie and Alistair Bell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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