Members of Terrorist Cell Arrested near Tehran: Police Chief
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Police Chief Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari said members of a terrorist cell have been arrested on the outskirts of the capital, Tehran, three days after twin terrorist attacks in the city, which left 17 people dead.
Addressing a ceremony here in Tehran on Saturday, Brigadier General Ashtari said a number of militants affiliated with some terrorist groups have been arrested thanks to the vigilance of the polices forces, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Basij Force and other security organizations of the country.
He further praised people’s good cooperation with the Law Enforcement and their role in the identification of the terrorists.
On Friday, the Intelligence Ministry said Iranian security forces have arrested 41 militants affiliated with Daesh across the country.
Following a series of "complex" intelligence operations and the cooperation shown by families of some terrorists in the provinces of Kermanshah, Kurdistan, West Azarbaijan and Tehran, 41 elements of the Daesh Wahhabi group were arrested before being able to make a move, the ministry said in a statement.
A day earlier, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alawi said his forces had identified the hideout of the perpetrators of Tehran attacks.
The place, where the terrorists had convened to plan their terrorist acts and the picture of which appeared on social media, was identified and a number of terrorists who were still there were arrested, Alawi said.
On Thursday, the Intelligence Ministry released the pictures and first names of perpetrators of the attacks, identifying the five gunmen as Qayyoum, Abu Jihad, Ramin, Serias, and Fereydoun, without announcing their surnames.
According to the ministry’s statement, the five attackers were terrorists with criminal backgrounds who were linked to “Wahhabi and Takfiri groups.”
After joining the Daesh terrorist group, the five men had left Iran and were engaged in the terrorist group’s operations in Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa, it added.
They had returned to Iran in August 2016 for a terrorist operation under the command of Abu Aysheh, a ranking commander of Daesh, with the purpose of carrying out attacks in Iran’s religious cities and fled Iran after their cell was disbanded at the time and their ringleader was killed, the statement said.
On Wednesday morning, terrorists launched simultaneous attacks on Iran’s parliament building in downtown Tehran and on the mausoleum of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini.
Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed 17 people and wounded more than 40.
All five gunmen involved in the attacks were killed by the security forces.
