29 Mar 2024
Sunday 14 October 2018 - 17:32
Story Code : 323215

Iran arrests member of military over Ahvaz parade attack: agency

Reuters - Iran has arrested a member of its military in connection with a gun attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz last month which killed 25 people, semi-official Fars News agency reported on Sunday.

An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamic State militants also claimed responsibility. Neither group provided conclusive evidence to back up their claim.

Eleven people were summoned and one was arrested, all of whom were military, and the case has been sent to Tehran, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, spokesman for the judiciary, was cited as saying by Fars.

Ejei did not provide any further details.

Activists in the Ahvaz region have accused Iranian security forces of detaining their colleagues after the shooting attack last month.

Separately, Irans Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said his ministry had helped to uncover and destroy 300 teams of militants, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Sunday.

Alavi did not give further details on the identities of the militants, nor did he indicate when the cells were uncovered.

(This version of the story has been refiled to fix punctuation in paragraph 7)

Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
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