13 dead, 40 wounded in Iran terrorist attack

TEHRAN (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed Wednesday by armed "terrorists" who attacked a shrine in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, state television said.

Forty others were wounded when "terrorists attacked the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz", the state broadcaster said, updating an earlier toll from the judiciary's news website of nine dead.

At least one woman and two children were among those killed, Fars news agency said.

Local media initially reported three assailants carried out the attack and two had been detained, but a local official instead said there was only one attacker.

"Only one terrorist was involved in this attack," local judiciary chief Kazem Mousavi told state television, which reported that "a terrorist affiliated with takfiri groups was arrested".

The term takfiri in Iran and in several other countries refers to radical Sunni Islamist groups.

Fars reported that "the terrorists arrested are not Iranian".

The Shah Cheragh mausoleum is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza, the eighth Shiite imam, and is considered the holiest site in southern Iran.