At least 20 people, including a child and a woman, were injured in a terrorist attack on a military parade in Iran’s southern city of Ahvaz on Saturday, the official news agency IRNA reported.

Unknown gunmen opened fire on people from behind the stand during the parade held to mark the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran which led to an eight-year war in the 1980s.

“It has been reported that four or five of the elements of the terrorist incident were killed by security and law enforcement forces,” IRNA said.

The Fars news agency said citizens watching the parade first thought that the shooting was inadvertent. “After several people were injured, they realized it is a terrorist attack,” it said.

According to Tasnim, despite earlier unofficial report that between 8 and 10 forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have been killed in the terrorist attack, sources said that the exact number of martyrs is not clear yet.

Iran’s Armed Forces staged the countrywide military parades to mark the Sacred Defense Week on the 38th anniversary of the onset of the Iraqi imposed war on the Islamic Republic back in 1980.

Source: Iranian media