Iran's intelligence minister has announced that several people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the terror attack that took place over the weekend in southwest Iran, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Mahmoud Alavi spoke at a funeral for victims of Saturday's attack, in which at least 25 people died and over 60 were injured after gunmen disguised as soldiers opened fire on an elite military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
Alavi said security forces had made arrests but did not specify an exact figure, and asserted that Iran's various security and intelligence forces would identify and bring to justice anyone linked to the attack.
The minister added that the four extremists who perpetrated the attack had been killed.
Iranian authorities have accused rival countries in the Persian Gulf, mainly Saudi Arabia, of financing and arming the Arab separatist movement Al-Ahvaziya with the aim of creating insecurity in Iran, and have criticised the support of the United States for these countries.
Thousands of people attended the funeral amid a day of national mourning and shouted slogans against these countries, including the US.
The attack took place as military parades were being staged across the country in commemoration of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).
Ahvaz, located near the Iraqi border in Khuzestan province, is a sprawling city that was devastated during the conflict.
Attacks inside Iran are not common, even though extremist groups are known to engage Iranian security forces near its borders with Pakistan and Iraq.
The last major terror attack in the country took place in June 2017 at the Iranian parliament in Tehran and was claimed by the Islamic State terror organisation, in which 17 people died and more than 50 were wounded.
Australian Associated Press
