Iran parade gunmen wore 'fake military clothing', fired on women and children: Eyewitness
Scene from the attack during the military parade in Ahvaz, Iran
Gunmen fired on a military parade in southwestern Iran on Saturday (September 22), killing 25 people, almost half of them members of the Revolutionary Guards, state news agencies reported, in one of the worst attacks ever on the elite force.
State television said the assault, which wounded more than 60 people, targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq.
An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither claim provided evidence.
An eyewitness told state TV the gunmen wore "fake military clothing" and blindly fired into the crowd, shooting at women and children. State news IRNA agency reported women and children died in the assault.
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces, said the attackers had hidden weapons in an area near the parade route several days in advance.
The four gunmen were killed by security forces, Shekarchi said.