November 17, 2022: Nine people including a woman and two children killed during the protests in two separate attacks in southern Iran on Thursday.

A senior judicial official in Khuzestan province said that three suspected people have been arrested till now. The attacks occurred as protests over the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini intensified on the third anniversary of bloody unrest over fuel price hikes.

"Two wounded people died at dawn on Thursday, bringing the death count to seven killed and eight wounded," the official IRNA news agency reported.

The dead included a 45-year-old woman and two children aged nine and 13, said an official at the Jondishapour hospital in Ahvaz, the provincial capital.

Among the eight wounded were two Basij and three police officers, according to a security official interviewed by state television.

"A terrorist group took advantage of a gathering of protesters in front of the central market of the locality to open fire on people and security officers," IRNA said.

Riding two motorcycles, the assailants opened fire at a central market in Izeh at around 5:30 pm (1400 GMT), killing five and wounding 10, Khuzestan's deputy governor for security, Valiollah Hayati, told state television.

It is the second attack that the Iranian authorities have blamed on "terrorists" since nationwide protests flared over Amini's death, after her arrest for allegedly flouting Iran's hijab dress code for women.

story courtesy: ndtv