Attackers raided Iran’s parliament and set off a suicide bomb at the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran on Wednesday, killing up to seven people in a twin assault at the heart of the Islamic Republic, Iranian media reported.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said security forces had arrested a “terrorist team” planning a third attack, without giving further details.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement. If confirmed, they would be the first assaults by the hardline Sunni Muslim group inside the Shi’ite Muslim country.
The attacks, targeting parliament and the shrine of the Republic’s revered founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, took place less than a month after the re-election of President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate.
Three assailants, one with a pistol and two with AK-47 assault rifles, attacked the parliament building in central Tehran, lawmaker Elias Hazrati told state television.
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported that one attacker detonated a suicide vest there, though some other news agencies said the explosion might have been caused by grenades thrown by the assailants.
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