Iran disbands 3 terrorist teams in South

Iran’s Intelligence Minister Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi announced on Tuesday that the country's security forces has dismantled several terrorist teams in Southern Iran, and captured all their members.

"Three terrorist teams have been identified in Khuzestan Province in the past few days and their 15 members have been arrested," Alavi told reporters in Shalamcheh city in Southern Iran.

He added that they wanted to launch suicide attacks against the Iranian pilgrims who are on their way to the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf in Iraq, but they were captured by the country's security forces.

The Arbaeen pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq is the largest religious gathering in the world, marking the 40th day after the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (AS) in the seventh-century. Imam Hossein (AS) is the third Shiite Imam and grandson of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Last year, millions of Muslims from across the world, including Iran, attended the 100-km rally from Iraqi city of Najaf to Karbala where the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH) is located.

Observers believe the rally is unique in terms of quality and also the number of its participants. It starts from the holy shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH) - the first Shiite Imam - and ends up in the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH).

Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.

In the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by the time’s despotic ruler Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, and soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were martyred in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.

The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the all freedom-lovers across the world.

Imam Hossein's martyrdom remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to the justice-seekers.

EA