Assailant arrested after killing one at Azerbaijan embassy in Tehran
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Police in Tehran took the assailant who killed a guard at Azerbaijan's embassy into custody.
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People gather outside of the Azerbaijan Embassy after an attack there in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. A man armed with a Kalashnikov-style rifle stormed the Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran's capital Friday, killing the head of security at the diplomatic post and wounding two guards, authorities said. (AP)
Police in Tehran reported the arrest of the assailant who shot dead one person guard and left two others wounded after entering Azerbaijan's embassy in the Iranian capital on Friday morning.
"The person entered the Azerbaijani embassy this morning and started shooting with a firearm, killing one person and injuring two others," Tehran police chief Brigadier General Hossein Rahimi said.
He said that the police took immediate action and arrested the assailant, adding that an investigation is underway.
According to the Tehran police chief, the attacker entered the embassy with two young children. "In the initial investigation, the attacker stated that his motivation was personal and family problems," Gen. Rahimi said, adding the man is an Iranian man married to an Azerbaijani woman.
Moreover, Rahimi said that the man claims that his wife "has been held at the embassy for nine months."
According to the Tehran police chief, the assailant had been waiting outside the embassy, and when a member of the diplomatic mission was parking his car, the attacker drove and rammed his car into the back of the vehicle. The attacker then took his AK-47 rifle out of the car and started shooting, forcing his way into the mission, Gen. Rahimi said.
In a statement, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry stated that the head of the security service of the embassy was killed in the shooting, which happened around 8:30 local time (0500 GMT).
"An individual with a Kalashnikov rifle attacked the security post and killed the head of security," read a statement by the ministry, according to Trend News Agency.
"Two embassy guards were also wounded in preventing the attack. Their condition is satisfactory," it added, noting that the attack was under investigation.
The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani, strongly condemned the attack and expressed condolences to the victim's family, as well as the Azerbaijani government and people. "The issue is being pursued with top priority and sensitivity on the order of political and security officials, so that aspects of the incident and the motivation of the attacker become clear."
Kanaani urged the media to refrain from speculation, citing preliminary investigations that show personal motivations were behind the attack.
