Several people were injured this morning and at least two people were said to have died after gunmen stormed the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the mausoleum of the revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini.
In separate attacks which appeared to be co-ordinated, four gunmen are understood to have entered parliament in the east of the Iranian capital with rifles and a pistol, while an armed man went to the mausoleum in the south of the city. There were also unconfirmed reports of a suicide bomb.
Local media reported that three people had been shot inside parliament, including at least one security guard. At least two people have died. It was unclear this morning whether the attackers had been stopped.
Half an hour later an armed man opened fire at the western entrance of the mausoleum, before blowing himself up with a suicide vest, the site’s head of public relations, Ali Khalili, said. There were also reports that a woman was arrested at the site.
The mausoleum, which holds the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini, who launched the Islamic revolution in 1979, is about 12 miles away from parliament.
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The identity and motivation of the attackers was unclear. Shia Iran is a target for Sunni jihadists, including the Islamic State group. Iran provides key ground forces against Isis and other rebel groups in Syria and Iraq.