An Iranian soldier killed five of his comrades in their barracks dormitory on Sunday in the province of Kerman, the scene of the devastating Islamic State suicide bombing on January 3.
According to Iranian state media, the unidentified 20-year-old soldier entered the barracks at a base in Baghin, a city in Kerman, and started shooting other soldiers while they were resting.
The shooter was reportedly taken into custody with two Kalashnikov rifles, six magazines, and 180 rounds of ammunition on his person. He stole two vehicles in his unsuccessful bid to flee the scene of the attack.
The commander of the Baghin base, Brig. Gen. Amir Gholamalian, told reporters the motive for the shooting was “still unknown” as of Sunday evening. Golamalian said the suspect was under interrogation to determine the reason for his actions.
IranWire described the shooter as a “conscript,” a reference to Iran’s policy of mandatory military service for men aged 19 and over. Iran has a history of discipline problems and inside attacks, including a similar shooting incident at a firing range in 2017. Some critics of the regime’s policies blame these attacks on the practice of conscripting unwilling men from restless regions.
Kerman is the birthplace of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in 2020 while coordinating terrorist attacks against Americans in that country. The regime in Tehran declared Soleimani a “martyr” and required its subjects to worship him as such.
Protesters hold pictures of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani during a demonstration outside the US consulate in Istanbul, on January 5, 2020, two days after top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike (YASIN AKGUL/AFP via Getty Images).
On January 3, 2024, two Islamic State suicide bombers struck a remembrance ceremony for Soleimani in Kerman, killing 94 people in Iran’s deadliest terrorist massacre since the 1979 revolution.
This picture shows people and Iranian emergency personnel at the site where two explosions in quick succession struck a crowd marking the anniversary of the 2020 killing of Guards general Qasem Soleimani, near the Saheb al-Zaman Mosque in the southern Iranian city of Kerman on January 3, 2024 (Photo by Sare Tajalli / ISNA / AFP).
The Iranian government blamed foreign forces for orchestrating the bombing and vowed revenge.
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