TEHRAN – The Iranian Intelligence Ministry issued a second statement on Thursday announcing it has arrested 35 individuals who aided and abetted two foreign suicide bombers who slaughtered civilians in the southeastern city of Kerman on January 3.

The suicide bombers exploded themselves among the mourners as they were heading to the burial site of anti-terror hero Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a cowardly U.S. drone strike near Baghdad’s international airport in January 2020.

“So far, 35 people have been detained in the provinces of Kerman, Sistan- Baluchestan, Khorasan Razavi, Isfahan, Tehran and West Azarbaijan,” the ministry said.

The ministry added its intelligence agents are proceeding to identify the perpetrators and masterminds of the twin suicide bombings as well as the people related to the terrorists inside and outside the country.

A number of the criminals involved in the tragedy have been also identified abroad and serious efforts are underway to track them down, it further said.

The two terrorists who blew themselves up within an interval of 20 minutes left at least 94 civilians dead and more than 280 wounded.

According to the ministry, the first terrorist detonated his explosive vest at 14:55 local time around 700 meters away from Gen. Soleimani's tomb and the second detonated his vest at 15:15 around 1,000 meters away.

According to the results obtained so far, the mastermind of the criminal operation was a Tajik national under the alias Abdullah Tajiki, the statement read. He illegally entered Iran through southeastern borders along with a woman and a child on December 19 and was transferred to Kerman, it said.

In addition to directing the operation, Tajiki was an expert in making handmade bombs and after combining various explosive and electric detonators and producing the bombs, he left the country two days before the tragic bloodshed.

The statement said it is the ministry’s duty and right to prosecute and bring to justice the criminals and all the culprits outside the country who played a role in the massacre.

The Intelligence Ministry identified the second Kerman suicide bomber as a 24-year-old Israeli with Tajik citizenship, named Bazirov, who joined Daesh after becoming acquainted with the group via Telegram social platform.

The ministry added that important clues have been found about the identity of the second suspect which would be revealed after completion of information.

The statement gave further details about the day of the attack, saying at 13:03 and 13:14 local time, the suspects went separately to the place where the ceremony was scheduled to be held.

It emphasized that the main goal of the terrorists was to blow up Gen. Soleimani's tomb but they changed their plan after witnessing strong and multi-layered security measures and the deployment of police forces and equipment, Press TV said.

They then decided to implement their evil plan in relatively distant places, it noted.

Culled from Tehran Times