IRAN (Graphic images): Two more hanged in public

NCRI - Two men have been hanged in public in the Iranian city of Jiroft ahead of the regime's New Year celebrations.

The executions were carried out using a crane and mechanical fork loader in one of the city's main squares, with armed men guarding from rooftops around the area.

The death sentences took place on the day after Fire Festival - known as Charshanbeh Souri - used by many Iranians to defy the clerical regime.

Fearing of public protests, prior to the Fire Festival, a senior cleric described it as 'religiously forbidden' and warned people about 'crossing God's red lines'.

In Tehran, people lit bonfires in public places, set off fireworks and launched wish lanterns as part of an annual ritual.

Elsewhere, people threw portraits of the regime's Supreme Leader into fire and chanted 'death to the dictator'.

The Iranian opposition and international rights groups have repeatedly stated that the regime is using public hangings as a way of suppressing public protests by inspiring fear in society.

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Iran news in brief, 18 March 2015

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Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Deadly Tunisia Attack

BEIRUT – The Islamic State, or IS, claimed responsibility on Thursday for the deadly attack on Tunisia’s national Bardo museum that killed 23 people, including 18 tourists of various nationalities.

The jihadist group made the announcement in an audio recording that was broadcasted on the Internet, and the authenticity of which has not yet been verified, that two IS members perpetrated the attack, identified as Abu Zakaria al-Tunisi and Abu Annas al-Tunisi.

Earlier in the day, Tunisian authorities said that they had identified the assailants of the Bardo Museum terrorist attack, but that any affiliation to jihadist groups had not been confirmed.

The Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid told French radio station RTL that the terrorists responsible for the attack, who were subsequently killed by the Tunisian security forces, were Saber Khachnaoui and Yassin Labidi.

Essid explained that Labidi was already being monitored and investigated by the Tunisian intelligence services, but the measures did not reveal anything noteworthy about him.

“We are in the process of further investigation. We cannot say which organization they belong to,” Essid added. 

Tajikistan alarmed by IS activity at its border with Afghanistan

DUSHANBE, March 18. /TASS/. Tajikistan is alarmed by the activity of Islamic State’s armed groups close to its border with Afghanistan, a spokesman for the republic’s State Committee for National Security told TASS on Wednesday in comments on the border situation.

"Over the recent time, we have been witnessing movements of armed groups in the [northern] Afghan provinces of Tahar and Kunduz about 60-80 kilometers from the zone of responsibility of our Pyandzh border guard detachment," the officer said.

He said the aim of this activity was not yet clear, but such concentration of armed groups was alarming, as routes of terrorist groups went through areas not controlled by the Afghan government forces. 

He said the strength of armed groups was reported as some 1,000 people, including supporters of the Islamic State, as well as joining them Taliban fighters, gunmen from the Uzbek Islamic movement and Ansarullah movement, whose emissaries have been actively working in Tajikistan for years.

"We are closely contacting with our colleagues from Russia, Afghanistan, partners from other countries" on that problem, the officer said.

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