Ahvaz — Tens of thousands of mourners attended Monday’s funeral in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz for soldiers and civilians killed in an attack on a military parade on Saturday. Four militants attacked the parade marking the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, spraying the crowd with bullets and killing 24 people. Iranian officials blamed the weekend attack on Arab separatists, backed by Gulf Arab allies of the US. Civilians and troops were seen carrying coffins draped with Iranian flags. Mourners, mostly clad in black, carried pictures of the dead and banners reading, "We will stand to the end" and "No to terrorism". Under a blazing sun, crowds streamed in from all four main streets leading into the city centre’s square where the funeral was held. Three of the streets were allocated for men and the fourth for women. In the square, also segregated, a woman dressed in the traditional Arab-style chador wailed loudly and held a picture of her son, Reza Shoaibi, a conscript w...

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