Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says one of its officers has been assassinated in the capital Tehran by gunmen riding on two motorcycles, according to the state news agency IRNA.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said that the IRGC issued a statement on Sunday saying Hassan Sayyad Khodayari was assassinated by enemies of the revolution. He said that Khodayari was a member of the Quds Force (which is responsible for the IRGC’s foreign operations) and that he served in Syria in past years.
The IRGC, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, identified Khodayari as a colonel.
Khodayari was killed by five bullets as he returned home near Mojahedin-e-Islam Street at about 4pm (11:30 GMT), according to the IRNA.
The agency published pictures showing a man slumped over in the driver’s seat of a car, with blood around the collar of his blue shirt and on his upper right arm.
The state agency described him as a “defender of the sanctuary” – a term used to describe anyone who works on behalf of Iran in Syria or Iraq...
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