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Suicide Bombers Attack Iran’s Parliament, Khomeini Shrine | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Iranian police stand near the parliament’s building during a gunmen attack in central Tehran. Reuters photo


ISIS terrorist organization claimed on Monday coordinated gun and suicide attacks on Iran’s parliament and the shrine of Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran, which left 12 people dead.

Dozens of people were wounded in the attacks, which ended after a standoff lasting several hours as the gunmen holed up in parliamentary office buildings.

ISIS claimed the attacks in a report from its Amaq propaganda agency which said: “Fighters from the ISIS attacked the Khomeini mausoleum and the parliament building in Tehran.”

It also claimed two suicide bombers had blown themselves up at the shrine, which lies around 20 kilometers away from parliament.

Amaq also published a video showing a gunman at the parliament.

Another attacker was heard on the video saying: “Thank God … Do you think we will go away?”

Parliament was in session as the attacks unfolded, with live footage showing members continuing with routine business even as gunbattles were reported in surrounding office buildings and snipers took position on nearby rooftops.

Iran’s deputy interior minister said the attackers dressed as women entered the parliament from the main gate.

One of the attackers was shot dead and one detonated a suicide vest, Tasnim news agency quoted Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari as saying.

Police said all the attackers had been killed by around 3 pm, some five hours after it started.

The assaults began mid-morning when four gunmen burst into the parliament complex in the centre of Tehran, killing a security guard and one other person, according to the ISNA news agency.

Soon after the parliament attack, a team of three or four assailants entered the grounds of Khomeini’s mausoleum, killing a gardener and wounding several other people.

Iran’s emergency services said a total of 12 people were killed in the two attacks and 39 wounded.

Two of the attackers at the shrine, one of them a woman, blew themselves up, while another detonated a suicide vest on the fourth floor of the parliamentary office building.