Iran says it executed 9 Islamic State group militants detained after a 2018 attack
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran said Tuesday it executed nine militants of the Islamic State group detained after a 2018 attack.
The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency announced the executions Tuesday, saying that the death sentences had been upheld by the country's top court.
It described the militants as being detained after they were in a clash in the country's western region with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in which three troops and several Islamic State group fighters were killed. Authorities said they had seized a cache of combat weapons, including a machine gun and 50 grenades, after surrounding the militants' hideout in the country's west.
Iran carries out executions by hanging.
The extremist group, which once held vast territory across Iraq and Syria in a self-described caliphate it declared in 2014, ultimately was beaten back by U.S.-led forces.
It has since been in disarray, though it has mounted major assaults. In Iran's neighbor Afghanistan, for instance, IS is believed to have grown in strength since the fall of the Western-backed government there to the Taliban in 2021.
The group previously claimed a June 2017 attack in Tehran on parliament and a mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50. It has claimed other attacks in Iran, including two suicide bombings in 2024 targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 U.S. drone strike. That assault killed at least 94 people.
The clash with Revolutionary Guardsmen in 2018 marked a point of heightened tensions between Iran and the militant group. Iran launched ballistic missiles at parts of eastern Syria, vowing revenge after militants disguised themselves as soldiers and opened fire at a military parade in the Islamic Republic's southwest. That attack killed at least 25 people and was claimed by both the Islamic State group and local separatists.
But Tehran's hand in Syria was weakened with the fall last year of President Bashar Assad, a key ally. Analysts say IS could take advantage of the security vacuum to stage a comeback while Syria's new leaders are still consolidating their control over the country and forming a national army.
Gabe Levin, The Associated Press
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CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Israel appears to believe its war goals are getting closer, as Gaza teeters on starvation
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Toronto Star
6 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Pulse massacre survivors are set to revisit the nightclub before it's razed
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Winnipeg Free Press
6 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pulse massacre survivors are set to revisit the nightclub before it's razed
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