The Islamic State is threatening once more to destabilise peace in parts of western Asia and threatens to rear its head again reminding of the atrocities it committed in the last decade.
The recent attack targeted the holy shrine in Iran’s southern city of Shiraz where a gunman broke into its grounds and opened fire at pilgrims.
Iran-based Tasnim News Agency said that ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant - ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack. In its report, the news agency said that four suspects linked to this incident have been arrested citing Kazem Mousavi, the chief justice of Fars province.
The Shah Cheragh shrine is located in Fars province and is one of the most important in Shia Islam.
The gunman was armed with an assault rifle and eight magazines with 240 bullets. He shot 11 rounds until security guards came and subdued him.
“One person has been killed and eight others wounded in the attack," official news agency IRNA reported, quoting deputy Fars governor Esmail Ghezel Sofla. The Iranian state-run news outlet first reported four dead but has retracted that figure.
A similar attack on October 26, 2022 was carried out on the same shrine where 13 people died and 40 people were injured.
Later, the Islamic State terrorist group claimed the responsibility for the attack and released a video on its Amaq website conveying the same.
Iran has faced IS attacks in 2017 as well when the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was attacked.
The group was almost decimated towards the end of the last decade but it maintains presence in the form of sleeper cells in Syria, Iraq and other neighbouring nations.
The group recently appointed Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as its fifth leader after another jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham killed previous leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi in clashes in northwestern Syria’s Idlib.
It carried out its deadliest attack earlier in August when it targeted government forces in Raqqa province. The terrorists surrounded the bus in the desert near Mayadeen, in Deir Ezzor province, and shot at the occupants of the bus with heavy weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.
At least 33 soldiers died in the attack.
This shows that ISIS maintains hideouts in the vast Syrian desert from which it carries out ambushes and hit-and-run attacks.
The Islamic State remains highly active in parts of western Africa where jihadist violence has turned life upside down. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have been adversely impacted due to Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) - an affiliate of ISIS.
The Sahel region in Africa accounted for more terrorism deaths in 2022 than both South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) combined, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace which also said that the region is now the epicentre of terrorism.
Pakistan is also in the grips of jihadist violence and IS affiliate Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISK) carrying out attacks on civilians and military personnel.
(with inputs from AFP)