In a tragic incident, at least 35 people were killed in a stampede that erupted in the Iranian city of Kerman at the funeral procession for the top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US air strike.
With a sea of mourners rushing to see Soleimani’s coffin, state TV said a stampede had broken out which left 35 people dead and 48 injured. Footage showed emergency workers desperately trying to rescue mourners who had been thrown to the ground during the crush today.
Soleimani, 62, was born into a poor family in Kerman province in the country’s southeast. He started working as a 13-year-old to support his family, spending his free time attending sermons.
As a young man during the Iranian revolution in 1979, Soleimani began his ascent through the Iranian military, although he did not finish school.
Soleimani emerged from the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s a national hero for the missions he led across Iraq’s border.
