Stampede kills 56 at funeral for general slain by US

TEHRAN, Iran (AP):

A stampede broke out yesterday at the funeral for a top Iranian general slain in a United States airstrike, and at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, as thousands thronged the procession, Iranian news reports said.

The stampede took place in Kerman, the hometown of Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleimani, as the procession began, said Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency medical services.

There was no information about what set off the crush. Online videos showed people lying apparently lifeless, their faces covered by clothing. Emergency crews performed CPR on others as people wailed and cried out to God.

Soleimani’s burial was delayed, with no new time given, because of concerns about the massive crowd that had gathered, the semi-official ISNA news agency said.

Soleimani’s death in a drone strike on Friday has sparked calls across Iran for revenge against America, drastically raising tensions in the Middle East. The US government warned ships of an unspecified threat from Iran across the region’s waterways, crucial routes for global energy supplies. Meanwhile, the US Air Force launched a drill with 52 fighter jets in Utah, just days after President Donald Trump threatened to hit 52 sites in Iran.

An unprecedented honour

The funeral processions in major cities over three days have been an unprecedented honour for Soleimani, viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force.

Soleimani’s slaying already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge. In Iraq, pro-Iranian factions in parliament have pushed to oust American troops from Iraqi soil following Soleimani’s killing at the Baghdad airport.

Soleimani will ultimately be laid to rest between the graves of Enayatollah Talebizadeh and Mohammad Hossein Yousef Elahi, two former Guard comrades killed in Iran’s 1980s war with Iraq. The two died in Operation Dawn 8 in which Soleimani also took part, a 1986 amphibious assault that cut Iraq off from the Persian Gulf and led to the end of the bloody war that killed one million people.