By Jonathan Landay and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Communications intercepts collected by the USA confirmed that Islamic State’s (ISIS) Afghanistan-based department carried out twin bombings in Iran that killed practically 100 folks, two sources aware of the intelligence informed Reuters on Friday.
“The intelligence is clear-cut and indeniable,” one supply mentioned.
That supply and a second, each of whom requested anonymity to debate the delicate challenge, mentioned the intelligence comprised communications intercepts, with out offering additional particulars. The gathering of the intercepts has not been beforehand reported.
Wednesday’s bombings, the deadliest of their form in Iran for the reason that 1979 Islamic Revolution, added to regional tensions over the Israel-Hamas warfare in Gaza and assaults by Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthi group on business delivery within the Pink Sea.
ISIS on Thursday claimed accountability for the bombings, saying two operatives carrying explosive suicide belts staged the assault throughout a memorial service for Qassem Soleimani, a senior army commander assassinated in Iraq in a 2020 U.S. drone strike.
The Sunni Muslim militant group, nevertheless, didn’t specify that its Afghanistan-based affiliate, generally known as ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-Ok), was liable for the bombings within the southeastern Iranian metropolis of Kerman.
“The U.S. has fairly clear intel” that ISIS-Ok performed the assault, the primary supply mentioned.
The Central Intelligence Company declined to remark.
ISIS harbors a virulent hatred for Shi’ites — Iran’s dominant sect and targets of its affiliate’s assaults in Afghanistan — who it views as apostates.
ISIS claimed accountability for a 2022 assault on a Shi’ite shrine in Iran that killed 15 folks and 2017 bombings that hit the parliament and the tomb of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran on Friday mentioned safety forces had arrested 11 folks suspected of involvement in Wednesday’s assault and had seized explosive units and vests.
Whereas Taliban crackdowns have weakened ISIS-Ok and prompted some members to go away Afghanistan for neighboring nations, the affiliate has continued specializing in plotting international operations, U.S. officers say.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Steve Holland in WashingtonEditing by Susan Heavey, Matthew Lewis and Leslie Adler)
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