Stampede kills 56 mourners at Soleimani’s burial

Agency Reporter

NO fewer than 56 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a stampede at the burial of Qasem Soleimani, a leading Iran’s commander killed in a United States (U.S.) drone strike.

The stampede deaths in Soleimani’s hometown of Kerman led to the ceremony being delayed.

Millions of people are estimated to have packed the streets for a series of funeral processions in Iran.

Soleimani’s killing has raised fears of a conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

The head of the Quds force was tasked with defending and projecting Iranian interests abroad, and was hailed as a hero by many in his home country. Immediately after his death, Iran threatened retaliation.

To the U.S., Soleimani was a terrorist, and in explaining why he ordered the strike, President Donald Trump said he was acting on an “imminent” threat.

It is unclear what caused the crush in the south-eastern Iranian city.

It happened at the start of a funeral procession that had drawn vast numbers of people on Tuesday morning, ahead of the planned burial.

A coroner quoted on Iran’s Isna news agency put the death toll at 50, with those injured numbering more than 200.

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Video online showed people on the ground, their faces covered by clothing.

Iranian media later reported that the burial had resumed. Video footage showed the procession of Soleimani’s casket. People threw items of clothing which officials touched against the casket before returning them.

Top Iranian officials renewed their threats of revenge. “The martyr Qassem Soleimani is more powerful… now that he is dead,” the Revolutionary Guards’ top general, Maj Gen Hossein Salami, told crowds in Kerman.

In other developments, thousands in Iraq took to the streets in the southern city of Basra for the funeral procession of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, head of the Kataib Hezbollah militia group, who was killed alongside Soleimani. Muhandis was the Iranian’s top adviser and ally in Iraq, and a powerful leader among Iraq’s Shia militias