12 killed after IS terrorists storm Iranian parliament, while suicide bomber detonates self at shrine
A man hands a child to a security guard from Iran's parliament building after an assault
Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked Iran's parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran on Wednesday morning, killing at least 12 people in a twin assault at the heart of the Islamic Republic, Iranian officials and media said.
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Islamic State claimed responsibility and released a video purporting to show gunmen inside the parliament building and one body, apparently dead, on the floor. The rare attacks were the first claimed by the terrorist group in Iran.
A file photo of the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, where the second attack occurred. Pics/AFP
Attackers dressed as women burst through parliament's main entrance in central Tehran, deputy interior minister Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari said, One of them detonated a suicide vest in the parliament, he said. About five hours after the first reports, Iranian news agencies said four people who had attacked parliament were dead and the incident was over.
At least 12 people were killed by the attackers, the head of Iran's emergency department, Pir-Hossein Kolivand, was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB. Soon after the assault on parliament, another bomber detonated a suicide vest near the shrine of the Republic's revered founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, a few kilometres south of the city, Zolfaghari said, according to Tasnim.
A second attacker was shot dead, he said. The Intelligence Ministry said security forces had arrested another "terrorist team" planning a third attack, without giving further details.
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