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TEHRAN (SW): At least three people were reported killed and several others injured in two separate incidents after armed men burst into Tehran's parliament building where a session was underway and the mausoleum of revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini, with state media reporting at least one suicide bombing.
A female suicide bomber entered Khomeini's mausoleum and opened fire before blowing herself up with a suicide vest, reported state media. Later, a second suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the shrine, state broadcaster IRIB reported. A gardener was also killed when armed assailants entered the grounds of the mausoleum in Tehran, the ISNA news agency reported.
The ILNA news agency added that security forces were dismantling a bomb inside the mausoleum. The identity and the motivation of the assailant remain unclear, Tasnim news agency reported.
In another apparently coordinated attack at the Iranian parliament complex some 20 kilometres away in Tehran, a security guard and one other person were killed when gunmen burst into the parliament complex, ISNA reported.
One of the attackers blew himself up on the fourth floor of the parliament office building as the siege continued.
"Four men entered the parliament in the morning and opened fire, injuring three guards. One of the assailants was arrested," IRNA quoted a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission saying.
There were conflicting reports from inside the parliament complex, with some reports saying the situation had been brought under control while others said the shooting was continuing, with the buildings under lockdown.
ISNA quoted a member of the parliament as saying that all the parliament doors were shut and one of the assailants was surrounded by security forces.
The city was on lockdown, with streets blocked and the metro closed, and journalists kept away from the shrine by police. Iranian state media said police helicopters were circling over the parliament building and that all mobile phone lines from inside were disconnected.
Interior Minister Abdolrahman Fazli told ISNA he had convened a special meeting of the country's Security Council.
The militant Islamic State (IS) group claimed twin attacks in the Iranian capital on Wednesday targeting parliament and the shrine of the country's revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini, the Amaq propaganda agency said.
“Fighters from the IS attacked the Khomeini mausoleum and the parliament building in Tehran,” the agency said, citing a “security source. “
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