Iran: a Shiite imam assassinated in a knife attack

Undated photo provided by Fars News Agency showing Iranian Shia clerics Aslani, Pakdaman and Daraei sitting together in Mashhad, Iran.

© AFP PHOTO / HO / FARS NEWS/AMIN FAEZI

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2 mins

The knife attack on Tuesday against three Iranian Shia clerics, one of whom died, has come to darken the Ramadan fast in Iran.

An attack that could fuel tensions between Shiites and Sunnis, many in the border provinces with Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also among Afghan refugees living in Iran.

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This unprecedented attack took place in the city of Mashhad, one of the main holy cities of the country where millions of Iranian pilgrims, but also foreigners, go.

At the start of the afternoon, the aggressor entered the grounds of the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth successor of the Prophet according to Shiite Muslims and one of the most revered figures of the current. .

According to the governor of the province, the aggressor, a young man in his twenties, according to the images, stabs the three religious.

Arrested by pilgrims, authorities claim he was a Sunni extremist.

Mashhad's attorney general, Mohamamd-Hossein Doroudi, without giving his nationality, said that four other people had been arrested on suspicion of complicity with the attacker.

For its part, the Fars agency explains that it was a foreign national, probably an Afghan, reports our correspondent in Tehran,

.

The motivations of the aggressor are not known, but "

", indicates the local governor, quoted by the television site.

The term takfiri, which literally means "

", designates in Iran and in several countries the jihadist groups or Sunni radical Islamists.

Five days ago, two Sunni clerics were killed in a neighboring province.

Tensions with displaced Afghans

Afghan refugees are very numerous in this border region with Afghanistan.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a million Afghans have arrived in Iran, often clandestinely, since the Taliban came to power, adding to the three to four million Afghans already present in the country.

In recent days, videos showing rallies against the presence of Afghans in certain cities or Afghan migrants directly confronting the police have multiplied on social networks.

(and with agencies)

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• Iran

• Afghanistan

• Terrorism