At least four people were killed in an armed attack carried out by two men on the shrine of Shah Cheragh, an important Shiite place of worship located in the city of Shiraz, in southern Iran. Iran’s state news agency IRNA spoke explicitly of a terrorist attack: for the moment, however, the attack has not been claimed and there have been no official comments on the matter by the authorities. Second Tasnimanother Iranian news agency associated with the Revolutionary Guard military corps, one of the two alleged perpetrators of the attack would have been arrested, while the other would have managed to escape and is currently wanted.
The shrine of Shah Cheragh is notoriously visited and is a pilgrimage destination for many faithful Shia Muslims. Last October in Shah Cheragh in a similar armed attack 15 people were killed, and on that occasion the action was later claimed by ISIS (or Islamic State), an Islamist terrorist group made up of Sunni Muslims: Shiites and Sunnis form the two main doctrinal branches of the Islamic religion, and their deep divisions have often been the basis of clashes, attacks and wars. Iran in July had hanged publicly two men found guilty of October attack.
– Read also: Why Shiites and Sunnis fight