Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has died after a helicopter carrying him and other officials crashed in a mountainous and forested area of the country in poor weather.

The 63-year-old, a figure representing conservative and hardline factions in Iranian politics, was president for nearly three years, and appeared on track to run for re-election next year.

A former chief justice, Raisi was touted as a potential successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 85-year-old supreme leader of Iran.

He promised revenge against Israel after it levelled Tehran’s consulate building in Syria and killed seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including two generals.

And he welcomed Iran’s response, which was to launch hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, most of which were shot down by a coalition of Israeli allies – but left Iran claiming an overall success.

Raisi was born in Mashhad in northeastern Iran, a religious hub for Shia Muslims. He underwent religious education and was trained at the seminary in Qom, studying under prominent scholars, including Khamenei.

Also like the supreme leader, he wore a black turban, which signified that he was a sayyid – a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, a status with particular significance among Twelver Shia Muslims.

Aljazeera

A helicopter carrying Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been involved in an incident while he was visiting neighbouring Azerbaijan, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on X on Sunday according to CNN.

“Some of the president’s companions on this helicopter were able to communicate with Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,” it added.

It is unclear what the exact status is of Raisi’s helicopter, CNN reports.

The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. Two of those helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely, according to Tasnim.

“Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, Tabriz’s Friday Prayer Imam, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim said on X.

Meanwhile, the IRNA, according to IRCG, has initiated a Search and rescue operation to locate the helicopter carrying Iranian President Raisi and FM Amir-Abdollahian, which went down in the forest area of Dizmar between the villages of Uzi and Pir Dawood.

More than 20 rescue teams equipped with drones, search dogs, and full equipment, along with groups of rangers and special armed forces, have been dispatched to the site.

The area, located north of Varzeghan in East Azarbaijan province, is difficult to access, and adverse weather conditions, including thick fog, complicate the search efforts.

Twin suicide bombings in Kabul’s diplomatic quarter left at least 18 people, including at least five journalists, dead on Monday, according to officials and media reports.

At least 41 others with injuries have been transferred to hospitals in Kabul, Wahidullah Majroh, a spokesman for the Afghan Public Health Ministry, said.

Earlier, Mr Majroh said that 21 people were killed in the attack.

The first bomber detonated his explosive-laden motorcycle at a checkpoint near an Afghan spy agency facility, Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanakzay told dpa.

Mr Stanakzay said the second suicide bomber allegedly posed as a reporter and blew himself up among journalists covering the first blast.

AFP confirmed the death of its photographer, Shah Marai, in the bombing, while Farzad Salehi, an editor at 1TV, a local news agency, said the station had lost two of its reporters.

Mr Majoh also confirmed the death of Ebadullah Hananzai, a reporter for Radio Free Europe (RFE) and Khair Tokhi, from ToloNews, a local news network.

Lotfullah Najafizada, the head of the prominent Afghan news network ToloNews, said he had counted 20 dead bodies at two hospitals.

At least five journalists were said to be among the dead.

“What a tragic day!” he added on his Twitter account.

However, information about the number of journalists killed in the incident is contradictory.

Najib Sharifi, the head of AJSC, told dpa that seven journalists, including one from AFP, one from RFE, two from 1TV, one from local news agency ToloNews, and two others from local radio Mashal, were killed in the attack.

“This incident makes it clear that Afghanistan, where violence and killing of reporters is frequent, is the most dangerous country for journalists,” Mr Sharifi said.

Mr Sharifi added that incidents like these are a big threat to the survival of freedom of speech.

Back-to-back bombings with second ones targeting rescue workers is a regular occurrence in Afghanistan.

At least 41 people were killed and 80 others were wounded in an Islamic State suicide bombing in December 2017 in three back-to-back bombings at a Shiite cultural organisation in western neighborhood of Kabul.

According to Nai, a non-governmental organization advocating for open media in Afghanistan, 21 journalists were killed in 2017.

No group has taken responsibility for Monday’s attacks.

The blasts mark the eighth large-scale attack in Kabul since January, with at least 254 killed and 368 injured.

An Islamic State suicide bombing at a national ID distribution centre in the western Kabul neighbourhood on April 22 killed 60 people and wounded 129 others.

Attacks in Afghanistan, especially in the capital, Kabul, have increased since the beginning of 2016.

More than 20 large-scale attacks took place in Kabul in 2017, leaving at least 500 dead. (dpa/NAN)