Iran arrests 11 people suspected to be involved in twin bomb blasts

Iranian authorities have arrested a total of 11 people suspected of their involvement in twin suicide bomb blasts, which left nearly 100 people killed and 20 injured at a memorial service of slain military commander, Major Gen. Qassim Soleimani.

Iran's intelligence ministry added that two people have been arrested for providing support to the two suicide bombers in Kerman and nine others suspected of being the members of terror outfit Islamic State.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for the bombing attack in Kerman during a memorial procession for Major Gen. Qassim Soleimani. The celebrated military general was the head of the elite Quds Force, a global arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and is believed to supervise several key military operations in West Asia. Qassim Soleimani was killed in a US drone attack in January 2020 outside the Baghdad airport during the Trump Presidency.

Meanwhile, Reuters citing US intelligence sources confirmed Islamic State’s (ISIS) Afghanistan-based branch is behind the attacks. American officials based their conclusion on communications intercepts collected by the agencies.

Communications intercepts collected by the United States confirmed that the Islamic State’s (ISIS) Afghanistan-based branch -ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) - carried out twin bombings in Iran, two sources familiar with the intelligence told Reuters on Friday.

“The intelligence is clear-cut and indisputable,” one source said to Reuters.

The Sunni Muslim militant group, however, did not specify its Afghanistan-based affiliate in its post-attack claim. The militant group harbours strong hate for Iran's Shia regime led by Ali Khamenei.

“Initially, the Iranian sources had started talking about an Israeli hand, and given the background of Israel's wanton assaults upon various Iranian targets in the past, there had been a certain degree of credibility and now you find the Islamic State making a statement that they are the ones that have carried out this attack,” said India's former envoy to Saudi Arabia, Talmiz Ahmad, in an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18.