Iranian minister ‘shot dead’ in Tehran

State news agency says Safdar Rahmat Abadi wounded in head and chest as he got into car

An unidentified attacker shot dead Iranian deputy industries minister Safdar Rahmat Abadi in Tehran yesterdayevening, the state news agency IRNA reported.

It said the minister had been shot in the head and chest as he got into his car in the east of the capital.

Witnesses said the incident happened at around 7.50pm.

“Investigations show that two shots were fired from inside the vehicle,” a police official as saying told the agency.

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“That two shells were found inside the car shows a strong likelihood that the assailant was inside the car and in conversation with Mr Abadi. There was no sign of struggle at the scene of the killing.”

The student news agency ISNA said a special homicide investigator and criminal prosecutor were at the scene, adding no arrests had yet been made.

There has been a surge of attacks against Iranian military and provincial officials in recent weeks, but Abadi’s killing appeared to be the first reported fatal shooting of a senior central government official in years.

Iranian Sunni Islamists claimed responsibility for the killing of an Iranian prosecutor in Sistan Baluchistan province last week.

They said it was revenge for the hanging of 16 prisoners carried out by judiciary officials after an attack by the Jaish ul-Adl group of Sunni Islamist militants in which 14 border guards were killed.

Reuters