TEHRAN- The prosecutor of Kerman, Mehdi Bakhshi, reported that all terrorists implicated in the most recent fatal attack in the city have been taken into custody.

Bakhshi made the remarks in a television interview on Saturday three days after the terrorist incident.

He added that “thirty-two people have been arrested in connection with Kerman terrorist crime case and are going through preliminary interrogations.”

An aggregate of “16 bombs have been discovered throughout Kerman province,” the judicial official continued, adding that their explosive capacity exceeded that of the suicide vests used in the assault on Wednesday.

Bakhshi denied allegations that the bombs used in the assault were concealed inside garbage cans and remotely set off, asserting that two suicide bombers—one of whom was Tajikistani—were responsible for both bomb explosions.

Emphasizing that terrorists were not able to plant any explosives inside the cemetery where martyrs are buried, the prosecutor said, “Over the recent months, as many as 23 Daesh terrorists ready to carry out suicide attacks have been arrested across Kerman province.”

The prosecutor stated that amid rumors of possible terror strikes by Daesh and the anti-Iranian Mujahedin-e-Khalq terrorist cult, the province had to cope with a large number of threats on this year’s General Soleimani martyrdom anniversary.

Therefore, the entire province was mobilized to counter any possible threats,” he said.

Bakhshi said that the Army, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Intelligence Organization, and the Intelligence Ministry were all involved in the mobilization. 

The Army was in charge of monitoring small aircraft to a range of several kilometers, and there were also specialized sniffer dogs to look for explosives.

Claims that there were less security measures in place for this year’s anniversary than there were for last year were refuted by the prosecutor.

He said that more preventive security measures, more security forces, and extensive use of thermal cameras and surveillance drones were all present at this year’s event.

The terrorist explosions, which were claimed by the U.S.-backed Daesh group, were carried out near the burial site of Iran’s late anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani during a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of his martyrdom. The blasts left 91 people dead and wounded 286 others, some of them in critical condition.

Culled from Tehran Times