Iran: 5 Tehran attackers fought for Islamic State

Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran

Five of the men who launched an attack in the heart of Iran’s capital previously fought for the Islamic State group, the country’s Intelligence Ministry said Thursday, acknowledging the first such assault by the extremists in the Shiite power.

The attacks Wednesday on Iran’s parliament and the tomb of its revolutionary leader killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 40, stunning its people.

The ministry issued a statement on its website with bloody pictures of the men’s corpses. It identified them by their first names only, saying they didn’t want to release their last names due to security and privacy concerns for their families.

It described them as “long affiliated with the Wahhabi,” an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.