Second Iran cleric dies after knifing at shrine

TEHRAN: A suspected jihadist attack at a revered shrine in Iran has claimed the life of a second cleric, state television said on Thursday.

The death of Sadegh Darai was reported as thousands of mourners attended the funeral of another cleric, Mohammad Aslani, stabbed by the same suspected Sunni extremist. A third cleric was wounded in Tuesday’s attack at the Imam Reza shrine in Iran’s second-largest city of Mashhad, during the holy month of Ramazan.

Darai, seriously wounded during the knifing, died in hospital, state television said. TV images showed thousands of mourners, including local officials, attending Aslani’s funeral at the city’s Shohada Square near the shrine, following a memorial service the previous day.

He was buried in a plot reserved for "martyrs" in the sanctuary’s courtyard. The assailant stabbed one of the victims 20 times, according to Tasnim news agency. The chief suspect has been identified as Abdolatif Moradi, 21, an ethnic Uzbek who had entered Iran illegally via the Pakistani border a year ago, Tasnim said.