Watan-At least 20 people were killed in two explosions in Kerman, near the shrine of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This incident coincided with the fourth anniversary of his death in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq.

Iranian television reported, “At least twenty people were killed in the incident near the mosque of Sahib al-Zaman in the province of Kerman in the south of the Islamic Republic, where the former commander of the Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guard is laid to rest.

Initially, the official television reported hearing an explosion, and later the television reported “hearing a second explosion” at the same location.

گزارش‌ها از یک انفجار در محدوۀ مسیر منتهی به گلزار شهدای کرمان حکایت دارد

هنوز جزئیات و علت این حادثه مشخص نشده است. pic.twitter.com/n95ob39NAB

— روزنامه ایران (@IranNewspaper) January 3, 2024

The explosion occurred near the shrine in the southern city of Kerman during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of the Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in 2020. Soleimani was killed in a drone strike at Baghdad Airport carried out by the United States.

“طوق أمني في المنطقة المحيطة بضريح الشهيد #سليماني في #كرمان بعد انفجار لم تعرف أسبابه حتى الساعة”

مراسلة #الميادين بيسان طراف #إيران @TarrafBissan pic.twitter.com/12bAAH6dBC

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) January 3, 2024

Iranian media reported casualties in an explosion involving gas cylinders during the commemoration ceremony of Qasem Soleimani’s death.

The Iranian Tasnim news agency stated that there are indications that more than 50 people may have been killed in the explosion.

It is worth noting that in January 2020, Soleimani and the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were killed in a missile strike targeting a vehicle they were traveling in on the road to Baghdad International Airport.