TEHRAN (Iran News) –In a statement released on Tuesday, Nasser Kanaani condemned the “divisive” shooting incident at the religious mourning ceremony held in commemoration of the third Shiite imam, Imam Hussein (PBUH), near Oman’s capital Muscat.

The spokesman also expressed Iran’s support for the Omani government and people in the face of the currents sowing division.

He also prayed for God’s mercy for the people martyred in the shooting incident and offered condolences to their bereaved families.

The attack early on Tuesday took place in Wadi al-Kabir, a district east of the capital city, Muscat, during a major religious event for Shiite Muslims.

Omani police said they’re taking “all necessary security measures and procedures… to handle the situation”. They gave an initial casualty toll of four killed and “several” injured, Al Jazeera reported.

It appears some of the victims were Pakistani nationals as Pakistan’s ambassador “visited three hospitals and met with the wounded”, an embassy statement said, adding, “all Pakistanis residing in Oman are requested to cooperate with the authorities”.

Such an attack is rare in Oman, a frequent regional mediator with a low crime rate. It comes during the Muslim day of Ashura when Shiite Muslims commemorate the seventh-century battlefield martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH), grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Many Shiite mark Ashura by performing a pilgrimage to Imam Hussein’s shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala.

Right after the incident in which two fishermen were also killed, relevant Iranian officials put on their agenda an immediate investigation into the tragic event. After the situation on the ground was carefully examined, the UAE diplomat was summoned to the ministry in the early hours of the following days by the director of the International Legal Affairs Department of the ministry.

At the ministry, the Iranian official condemned the UAE vessels’ harassment of the Iranian fishing boats, saying the responsibility for this illegal and out-of-norm move rests with the UAE government.

He stressed that those arrested as well as the fishing boats seized must be released, and bodies of those killed must be handed over to Iran. The Iranian official also demanded compensation for the damage inflicted and called on the UAE to take the necessary measures to prevent such events from happening again in the future.

The UAE charge daffaires, for his part, expressed regret over the incident, and underlined that he will inform Abu Dhabi of the developments accordingly.

In less than 24 hours, another meeting was also held between the UAE diplomat and the Iranian official to follow up on the outcome of the previous talks.

Following these developments in Tehran and thanks to efforts by the Iranian embassy in the UAE, the Abu Dhabi government sent an official note yesterday expressing deep sorrow over the incident and expressed its readiness to make up for all the damage inflicted.

Also, through the coordination of both countries’ border guards, the seized fishing boat and its crew were released. The legal procedure for delivering the bodies of those killed is underway.

Moreover, on the same day (August 17, 2020) a UAE vessel was intercepted and its crew arrested by Iranian border guard boats for illegally entering Iranian waters. Legal procedure is underway to look into the situation of the vessel.

The Foreign Ministry deems it necessary to once again announce to all countries in the Persian Gulf that the Islamic Republic of Iran brooks no encroachment upon its interests and no harassment of its nationals in the Persian Gulf, and will adopt all necessary measures to support its vessels and nationals.

Three women, ages 59, 24, and 18, were taken to a hospital and are in stable condition, the Philadelphia Police Department said, and the unborn baby is healthy.

Three teenaged boys, two 18-year-olds and one 17-year-old, were also shot, police said. They are also in stable condition after going to hospitals in private vehicles, CNN reported.

As of Friday, at least 98 individuals under the age of 18 had been shot in Philadelphia since the start of the year, according to data compiled by the Philadelphia Police Department.

“Just this past weekend, the City launched the Group Violence Intervention strategy to target the small group of people who are driving the gun violence plaguing the city and to send a clear message that the shootings must stop,” Dave Kinchen, spokesman for Philadelphia’s Office of Violence Prevention said in a statement Friday.

“We are devastated by the senseless act of gun violence that occurred tonight at 38th and Poplar,” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said in a statement Saturday. “These acts of lawlessness have no place in our communities; and I remain steadfast in that we will hold accountable those individuals who seek to cause harm in our city.”

No arrests have been made, and no weapons have been recovered, according to the police investigating Philadelphia shooting.

The two deceased people and the four injured ones were treated at St Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff, spokeswoman Allison Hendrickson told AP. She declined to provide more details. Red Bluff is a city of about 14,000 people about 210km north of Sacramento, California.

The shooting by a man with “AR-type weapon” started about 3.30 pm at the Walmart distribution center south of Red Bluff, emergency dispatchers told the Record-Searchlight newspaper.

There also was a fire at the site, and the suspect appears to have rammed a vehicle into the building, dispatchers said. There were about 200 workers inside the facility, some of whom locked themselves in a room, employees at the center told the KHSL TV station.

The suspect was described as being in a white vehicle that had wedged into the building, the Sacramento Bee reported. The shooter was in the middle of the parking lot, dispatchers said.

The suspect had been shot in the chest by about 3.45 p.m., dispatchers told the newspaper.

Scott Thammakhanty, an employee at the facility’s receiving center, said he heard the shooter fire from a semi-automatic weapon.

“It went on and on — I don’t even know how many times he fired,” Thammakhanty said. “I just know it was a lot.”

Thammakhanty and others started running for their lives, and he saw people lying on the ground as he went, he said.

Thammakhanty told the newspaper that he didn’t know his identity.

Fellow employee, Franklin Lister, 51, told the New York Times he had just started work when a coworker ran down the hallway shouting: “Active gunfire! Active shooter!”

Dispatchers told the Record-Searchlight that at least one woman had been shot. A man had also reported his leg getting run over when the shooter rammed a vehicle into the store, but the man wasn’t sure whether he’d been shot, dispatchers said.

Walmart spokesman Scott Pope told the Record-Searchlight that the company is “aware of the situation” and working with law enforcement.

“We don’t have any additional information to share at this time,” Pope said.

A police officer was among those killed. Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Halifax — what police called the first scene. Bodies were also found at other locations. The assault began late Saturday, and authorities believe the shooter may have targeted his first victims but then began attacking randomly.

Overnight, police began advising residents of the town — already on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic — to lock their doors and stay in their basements. Several homes in the area were set on fire as well.

Police identified the man believed to be the shooter as Gabriel Wortman, 51, who was thought to live part-time in Portapique. Authorities said he wore a police uniform at one point and made his car look like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruiser.

Police first announced that they had arrested Wortman at a gas station in Enfield, outside Halifax, but later said he had died. It was not clear how, and they did not explain further.

“This is one of the most senseless acts of violence in our province’s history,” said Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, AP reported.

RCMP spokesman Daniel Brien confirmed that 16 people had been killed in addition to the suspect. The dead officer was identified as Constable Heidi Stevenson, a mother of two and a 23-year veteran of the force. Another officer was also injured.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada. The country overhauled its gun-control laws after gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college in 1989. Before this weekend’s rampage, that had been the country’s worst.

It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification, and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.

“As a country, in moments like these, we come together to support one another. Together we will mourn with the families of the victims, and help them get through this difficult time,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a written news release.

While they believe the attack did not begin as random, police did not say what the initial motive was. RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather said many of the victims did not know the shooter.

“That fact that this individual had a uniform and a police car at his disposal certainly speaks to it not being a random act,” Leather said. He added that police believe he acted alone.

Leather said they would investigate whether the attack had anything to do with the coronavirus pandemic but no link has been found thus far.

At one point, there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and police, he said.

Late Sunday morning, there were half a dozen police vehicles at the scene of the gas station where the suspect died. Yellow police tape surrounded the gas pumps, and a large silver-colored SUV was being investigated.

Cpl. Lisa Croteau, a spokeswoman with the provincial force, said police received a call about “a person with firearms” late Saturday night, and the investigation “evolved into an active shooting investigation.”

Christine Mills, a resident of the area, said it had been a frightening night for the small town, with armed officers patrolling the streets. In the morning, helicopters flew overhead searching for the suspect. “It’s nerve-wracking because you don’t know if somebody has lost their mind and is going to beat in your front door,” she said.

Tom Taggart, a lawmaker who represents the Portapique area in the Municipality of Colchester, said the quiet community has been shaken.

“This is just an absolutely wonderful, peaceful quiet community and the idea that this could happen in our community is unbelievable,” Taggart said by phone from his home in nearby Bass River.

A Gabriel Wortman is listed as a denturist — a person who makes dentures — in the city of Dartmouth, near Halifax, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website. A suspect photo issued by the RCMP appears to be of the same person seen in video footage being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.

Mills also said that Wortman was known locally as someone who divided his time between a residence in Halifax and a residence in Portapique.

Taggart said he didn’t know Wortman well, but spoke to him a few times when he telephoned about municipal issues.

Taggart described knowing Wortman’s “lovely big home” on Portapique Beach Road.