Man in Iran guns down 12 family members with Kalashnikov assault rifle over dispute

A 30-year-old man gunned down 12 of his relatives in a rural area of southeast Iran on Saturday, marking one of the country’s deadliest shootings in decades. 

Prosecutors in the province of Kerman said the gunman opened fire on his father, brother, and other relatives because of a family dispute.  

Iranian mourners gather during the funeral ceremony in the Kerman province, where Saturday’s violence was reported to have taken place.  (AMIR MORADI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

A report from the semiofficial ISNA news agency did not identify the assailant but mentioned that he used a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

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While there are occasional shootings in Iran, Saturday’s attack marked one of the highest death tolls in Iran, where citizens are only legally allowed hunting rifles, common in rural areas.

In 2022, an employee, who was dismissed from a state-owned financial conglomerate, opened fire at his former workplace, killing three people and injuring another five before killing himself in the country's west. In 2016, a 26-year-old man shot 10 relatives in a rural area in the south of Iran.

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In recent years, violence has spiked in the country suffering from deteriorating economic conditions coupled with crushing American sanctions that helped spark soaring inflation and increasing unemployment.