The five men who carried out twin attacks in Tehran were Iranians who joined the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria before returning last summer, the Iranian intelligence ministry says.
“The five known terrorists… after joining the Daesh (IS) terrorist group, left the country and participated in crimes carried out by this terrorist group in Mosul and Raqqa,” the ministry says in a statement.
The statement indicates only five people carried out Wednesday’s twin attacks, rather than six as originally reported.
The ministry released images and the first names of the dead attackers, who killed 17 people and wounded dozens in gun and bomb assaults on Tehran’s parliamentary complex and the shrine of revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini on Wednesday.
It says the five men were part of a network that entered Iran in July-August 2016 under the leadership of “high-ranking Daesh commander” Abu Aisha and that “intended to carry out terrorist operations in religious cities.”
— AFP
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