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Islamic State group claims responsibility for Iran parade attack

Islamic State group claims responsibility for Iran parade attack

Islamic State

Islamic State group has claimed the responsibility of Iran army parade attack which claimed the lives of 29 people on Saturday.

Citing a security source, Islamic State's propaganda agency Amaq said: "Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces in the city of Ahvaz in southern Iran".

While three terrorists were killed on the spot in a counter-attack, the fourth attacker who was injured died in the hospital.

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Half of the people killed in the attack were the members of the Revolutionary Guards, state news agencies reported.

The casualties also included anumber of non-military victims, including women and children who had come to watch the parade.

State television said the assault, which wounded more than 60 people, targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) have been the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Guards also play a major role in Iran's regional interests in countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

"Three of the terrorists were killed on the spot and a fourth one who was injured died in hospital," Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces, told state television.

A video distributed to Iranian media showed soldiers crawling on the ground as gunfire blazed in their direction. One soldier picked up a gun and got to his feet as women and children fled for their lives.

(With inputs from AFP)