Martyrdom

Martyrdom

In 1999, on early Saturday morning, he was shot dead in Tehran by unidentified gunmen dressed as street cleaners as he wanted to drive his son to school. At that time, he was the deputy chief of staff of the regular army of the Islamic Republic and a military adviser to the leader of the regime.

In a statement sent to the Associated Press and Reuters, the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) claimed responsibility for shirazi's assassination. In this statement which was read over the phone to the Associated Press, the organization's spokesman said that shirazi was killed by the MKO's operatives inside Iran. The group said it killed the general as revenge for his role as commander of Iranian ground forces in Mersad operations.

The Paris-based spokesman, Shaahin Ghobadi said that his organization regarded the Iranian general as a "war criminal,"!!!!! Responsible for the deaths of hundreds of opposition members. The MKO claimed to have killed shirazi as he was "escorted by heavily-armed bodyguards." (He was alone and the assassinators approached him in guise of street cleaners.)

A similar statement was phoned in to the Reuters office in Dubai by an MKO spokesman who identified himself as Ali Safavi. He too was calling from Paris.

The Baghdad-based, Iraqi supported, equipped and trained MKO also claimed responsibility for the killing, but like the officials in Tehran, they did not offered any detail about the operations.

The evening daily "Kayhan", a mouthpiece of the Intelligence Ministry said the General was shot dead with three bullets fired at point blank as he was seated behind the wheel of his car, taking his son to the school.

A statement by the Army read over Tehran Radio said General Sayyad shirazi, was shot by "terrorists elements" as he was going to work. The Iranian officials to denounce the Mojahedin Khalq use the term "terrorist".

He died in hospital from his wounds shortly after the attack, Tehran television reported.