Gunmen attack Iran's parliament, Khomeini shrine

07/06/2017| IslamWeb

Armed men have launched attacks in Iran's capital, killing a guard at the parliament building and wounding several people in the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in southern Tehran, state media reported.

Four armed assailants attacked the parliament office buildings in central Tehran on Wednesday morning, while others attacked the shrine of revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini in the south of the city, where a female suicide bomber blew herself up.

One of the attackers on Iran's parliament complex blew himself up on the fourth floor amid an ongoing siege, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Lawmaker Elias Hazrati told state television three attackers, one with a pistol and two with AK-47 assault rifles, raided parliament on Wednesday.

ISNA news agency quoted a member of the parliament as saying that all the parliament doors were shut and one of the assailants was surrounded by the security forces.

"There is panic going through the streets of the capital right now because of the attacks. There is chaos inside the parliament," Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons said.

"It is very likely that these attacks were coordinated. Its hardly a coincidence that it happened within minutes of each other."

The identity and the motivation of the assailants was still unclear.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iranian police stand near the parliament’s building during a gunmen attack in Tehran [Reuters]

Al-Jazeera