Qasem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was killed in a US strike on Baghdad’s international airport. PHOTO: AFP

Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani will be laid to rest Tuesday in his hometown of Kerman, Iran as part of three days of ceremonies across the country, the Revolutionary Guards said.

The US military killed Soleimani on Friday in an air strike outside Baghdad international airport that shocked the Islamic republic and sparked fears of a new war in the Middle East.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed the commander of its Quds Force foreign operations arm had been killed on Friday by US forces in an air strike on Baghdad international airport.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei swiftly promised “severe revenge” and declared three days of mourning.

Soleimani’s body was expected to arrive in Tehran on Saturday night before being taken to the Shiite holy city of Mashhad the next day for a ceremony to be held next to Imam Reza’s shrine, a statement posted on the Guards website late Friday said.

“A ceremony will next be held in Tehran on Monday morning, and then the pure body of this soldier of the people and the nation will be buried in Kerman on Tuesday morning,” it added.

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A group of students also announced they would hold a vigil for Soleimani at Tehran University on Saturday before going to Tehran’s Mehrabad airport for the arrival of his remains.

The general, who died aged 62, was one of Iran’s most popular public figures.

After serving in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Soleimani quickly rose through the ranks of the Guards to become commander of the Quds Force.

In recent years he became an unlikely celebrity in Iran and had a huge following on Instagram.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran and other cities across Iran on Friday to protest the US attack.

Khamenei and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani paid separate visits to Soleimani’s family at their home on Friday to offer them their condolences over his death.

Thousands of Iraqis join Baghdad funeral

Thousands of Iraqis chanting “Death to America” joined the funeral procession Saturday for Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, both killed in a US air strike.

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The cortege set off around Kadhimiya, a Shiite pilgrimage district of Baghdad, before heading to the Green Zone government and diplomatic district where a state funeral was to be held attended by top dignitaries.

In all, 10 people — five Iraqis and five Iranians — were killed in Friday morning’s US strike on their motorcade just outside Baghdad airport.

The dead were brought to Kadhimiya on the back of pick-up trucks in coffins shrouded in their national flags.

The convoy snaked its way though a sea of black-clad mourners, some of whom carried portraits of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The bodies of the Iranians will then be flown on Saturday evening to Iran, which has declared three days of mourning for Soleimani.

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria.