ISIS falsely claims responsibility for Ahwaz attack, Iranian opposition says

alarabiya.net – An Ahwazi political group has refuted claims that ISIS carried out the deadly attack on a military parade in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz on Saturday, killing at least 29 people, including 12 Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and injuring 60 others.

The spokesman of the “Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz” Yaquob Hurr al-Tisteri said in an interview with Al Arabiya News Channel that “ISIS claims of the attack are not true”.

He then said that the attack was executed by national resistance individuals without specifying whether his group had any specific knowledge on which group carried out the attack.

The spokesman told Al Arabiya that civilians were killed due to random shooting by the Iranian security forces and that sources on the ground said individuals “responded in retaliation”.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the security forces to use their powers to identify the perpetrators of the attack.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country would respond “quickly and decisively” to the attack, charging agents of a “foreign regime” with responsibility.

Zarif tweeted: “Terrorists attacked Ahwaz after a foreign regime recruited, armed and paid them.”