Tehran: A tide of mourners flooded the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Sunday, weeping and beating their chests in homage to top general Qasem Soleimani who was killed in a US strike in Baghdad. "Death to America," they chanted as they packed the streets and filled a long bridge spanning a river in the southwestern city, where Soleimani's remains arrived from Iraq before dawn. As Shiite chants resonated in the air, mourners held portraits of Soleimani, seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and for spearheading Iran's Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force.

Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on Friday near Baghdad airport, shocking the Islamic republic. He was 62. The attack was ordered by President Donald Trump, who said the Quds commander had been planning an "imminent" attack on US diplomats and American forces in Iraq. Thousands of mourners dressed in black were seen gathered in Ahvaz in a live broadcast on state television.