Iran: 15 killed in armed attack against shrine in Shiraz

At least 15 people were killed and 27 others were injured on Wednesday evening in an armed attack at the Shahcheragh Shrine in the southern Shiraz city of Iran, state-run IRNA news said.

“Three armed men entered the shrine and opened fire on worshippers this evening,” IRNA said, adding that two children were among the victims.

It is unclear who was behind the attack, but IRNA said that the attackers acted like “takfiri terrorists”, in reference to groups such as Islamic State.

Tasnim news agency said that two people have been arrested and security forces continued efforts to find a third person.

Shiraz is a popular destination for pilgrimages and tourism, and the last such attack took place in the city in April 2008, when a bomb planted in a mosque killed 14 people.

Wednesday's attack came on the same day clashes broke out throughout Iran as thousands of people came to the burial site of Mahsa Amini in Saqqez, a city in the Kurdistan province, to mark 40 days since her death.

Protests have swept through the Islamic Republic following the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, who died on September 16 after being detained by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not abiding by the country’s conservative dress code.