Iran’s intelligence ministry has identified a top suspect – described as the ringleader and bomb-maker – in the twin suicide bombings claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror group.
It comes as the death toll from the attack rose to at least 94, state media reported.
The January 3 attack, in which two suicide bombers targeted a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 US drone strike in Iraq, was the deadliest in Iran in decades as the wider Middle East remains on edge.
One bomber first detonated his explosives at the ceremony in Kerman, about 510 miles south-east of the capital, Tehran, before another attacked 20 minutes later as emergency workers and other people tried to help the wounded from the first explosion.
The official IRNA news agency carried a statement by the intelligence ministry saying the main suspect who planned the bombing was a Tajik national known by his alias Abdollah Tajiki.
According to IRNA, the suspect had entered the country in mid-December by crossing Iran’s southeast border, and left two days before the attack after making the bombs.
The report also identified one of the bombers by his family name of Bozrov, saying the man was 24 and had Tajik and Israeli nationality.
It said he also arrived in Iran by crossing the southeastern border after months of training by IS in Afghanistan.
The report further said authorities were still trying to identify the second suicide-bomber.
In its claim of responsibility, IS identified the two bombers as Omar al-Mowahed and Seif-Allah al-Mujahed.
Iranian authorities have so far arrested 35 people across several provinces with purported links to the bombings, the report added.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the attack rose to 94 on Thursday, from the previous 91 fatalities reported on Sunday.
Iranian media said 14 of the dead were Afghan nationals who were participating in the commemoration for Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, who led the paramilitary’s expeditionary Quds Force.
