TEHRAN, Iran _ Funerals began Friday morning in the Iranian capital for 17 victims of two attacks this week by Islamic State militants, the first time in recent memory Sunni jihadists managed to strike the heart of the Shiite Islamic Republic.
Six attackers died _ including five men and a woman who blew herself up _ and several were detained in connection with the attacks at Iran's parliament and the tomb of Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. More than 50 people were wounded in the morning attack on parliament, which was in session.
According to an Iranian government statement, the male attackers had returned to the country last summer after fighting for the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqah, Syria, and had "intended to carry out terrorist operations in religious cities." The statement did not say if the attackers were Iranian citizens.
Reza Seifollahi, deputy chief of the Supreme National Security Council, told the independent newspaper Shargh that the male attackers were Iranian.
Before a funeral procession at parliament early Friday for guards killed there, Iran's supreme leader said the attacks will add to Iranians' hatred of the United States and Saudi Arabia. In the wake of the attacks, Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard also released a statement implying that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were to blame.
Khamenei said the Wednesday attacks "will not damage the Iranian nation's determination and the obvious result is nothing except an increase in hate for the governments of the United States and their stooges in the region like Saudi."
Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament, also spoke out ahead of the funerals.
"Daesh is an international danger," he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.
Mourners gathered outside the parliament complex Friday to watch the funeral procession, which followed a downtown candlelight vigil overnight.
Mohammad Rasouli, 66, sitting on the ground with a group across the street, said it was his duty to attend the procession and an afternoon funeral expected at 2 p.m. during weekly prayers.
"I came with my friends to show our solidarity with our supreme leader and nation. From here we go to Friday prayers. If we do not go there, Daesh will be emboldened," he said.
During the procession through parliament, the heads of Iran's executive, legislative and judiciary branches all paid their respects, including President Hasan Rouhani, Larjani and the head of the judiciary, Sadeq Larijani Amoli.
Parliamentary staff who survived the attack also attended the procession under tight security. They stood alongside friends and family of the victims, who dressed in black.
