Shah Cheragh Mosque in Shiraz, Iran. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
DUBAI — Three armed men attacked a Shiite Muslim shrine in the Iranian city of Shiraz on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people, state news agency IRNA reported, as security forces clashed with protesters marking 40 days since the in-custody death of Mahsa Amini.
IRNA described the attackers as "takfiri terrorists," a label used by officials in predominantly Shiite Muslim Iran to refer to hardline, armed Sunni Islamist groups.
The attackers were in a car and shot at pilgrims and staff at the entrance to the shrine of Shah Cheragh, the agency quoted witnesses as saying. Police arrested two of the three "terrorists" and were looking for the third.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said several women and children were among the dead.
The attack took place the same day as Iranian security forces opened fire at mourners gathered in Amini's Kurdish hometown of Saqez, according to a witness.