At least 50 mourners were killed and dozens of others sustained injuries on Tuesday in a stampede during the funeral for Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at his hometown in Kerman, according to the Iranian television.
Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force, was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq last Friday, Anadolu agency reported.
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His death marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the US and Iran, which have often been at a fever pitch since President Donald Trump chose in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw Washington from a 2015 nuclear pact world powers struck with Tehran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who gave Soleimani the country’s highest honour last year, vowed “severe retaliation” in response to his killing.
The Pentagon accused Soleimani of plotting the earlier embassy attack in Iraq and planning to carry out additional attacks on US diplomats and service members in Iraq and the region.
(With ANI Inputs)