Gunman opens fire at prominent shrine in Iran, 4 people wounded

Information on the attack at Shah Cheragh remained unclear immediately after the shooting, with state media and semiofficial news agencies offering differing details

Tehran: A gunman opened fire Sunday night at a prominent shrine in southern Iran, wounding at least four people, authorities said.

Information on the attack at Shah Cheragh remained unclear immediately after the shooting, with state media and semiofficial news agencies offering differing details.

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The state-run IRNA news agency said four had been wounded, including two workers at the shrine and two pilgrims.

The governor of Fars province, where Shiraz is the provincial capital, told Iranian state television that a single gunman carried out the attack and later was detained by security forces. Mohammad Hadi Imanieh did not offer any motive for the attack in his brief comments.

Shah Cheragh is one of Iran’s top five Shiite shrines. It draws pilgrims to Shiraz, which is some 675 kilometres south of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

The attack Sunday night comes after an October 2022 attack on the same shrine killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others.

The Islamic State group claimed the assault, which Iran said had been carried out by a man from Tajikistan, who later died in a hospital after succumbing to injuries he suffered while being detained by security forces.