50 killed in stampede at Soleimani's funeral
Local TV reports said 50 people had been killed and another 213 injured in the crush
At least 40 people were killed in Iran on Tuesday in a stampede during the funeral for a top military commander who was killed in a US drone strike last week.
Iranian state TV confirmed the deaths at the event to honour Qasem Soleimani. State TV quoted the head of Iran's emergency medical services, Pirhossein Koulivand, saying there had been a deadly stampede. It is believed 50 people have been killed and 213 people injured during the event on Tuesday afternoon local time.
According to the report, Soleimani's body arrived back in his home town of Kerman in southeast Iran for burial where thousands lined the streets, many dressed in black, reported BBC.
Soleimani was widely seen as Iran's second most powerful figure behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 80 who was killed at Baghdad airport in a move that has sparked fears of all-out war between the rogue Middle East country and the US.
His remains have now been brought back to a central square in Kerman, a desert city surrounded by mountains. At today's funeral, Hossein Salami, the leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to 'set ablaze' places supported by the United States.
Yesterday more than one million people turned out in the streets of Iran's capital Tehran to honour Soleimani, who was the head of the elite Quds Force.
The US blames him for the killing of American troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks.
Soleimani also led forces in Syria backing President Bashar Assad in a long war, and he also served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
His death has already has pushed Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge.
