WATCH: Terrifying moment ISIS terrorists storm Iran parliament killing 17 people
THIS is the terrifying moment that ISIS gunmen stormed Iran’s parliament leaving 17 dead and several others wounded.
Shocking moment attackers storm Iranian parliament
Dramatic CCTV footage showed people fleeing for their lives as the gunmen roamed through the parliament building firing their guns at random people hitting one person.
The attackers raided Iran's parliament and Ayatollah Khomeini's mausoleum on Wednesday morning, in a rare strike at the heart of the Islamic Republic.
WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT IN VIDEO
Authorities said the death count had risen to 17 and scores were wounded.
The attackers were Iranian members of Islamic State who had fought in the militants' strongholds in Syria and Iraq - deepening the regional ramifications of the assaults.
State TV also showed pictures of ammunition, rifles and binoculars laid out next to an Islamic State flag, all, it said, taken from the attackers.
This is the shocking moment gunmen and bombers stormed Iran’s parliament leaving 17 dead
Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards have also said regional rival Saudi Arabia was involved, fuelling tensions between Sunni Muslim power Riyadh and Shi'ite power Tehran as they vie for influence in the Gulf.
However, Saudi Arabia dismissed the accusation.
Iran's intelligence ministry said on Thursday five of the attackers who died in the assault had been identified as Iranians who had joined the hardline Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State on their main battlegrounds in Iraq and Syria.
Gunmen raided Iran's parliament attacking innocent strangers
A spokesperson for the ministry said: “They earlier left Iran and were involved in the crimes of the terrorist group in Raqqa and Mosul.”
The ministry added: ”Last year, they returned to Iran ... to carry out terrorist attacks in the holy cities of Iran.”
The attacks were the first claimed by Islamic State inside tightly controlled Iran, one of the powers leading the fight against the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Police said that the terrorists were Iranian members of Islamic State
Islamic State claimed the attacks carried out inside tightly controlled Iran
Two Sunni militant groups, Jaish al-Adl and Jundallah, have been also waging an insurgency inIran, mostly in remote areas, for almost a decade.
Iran's intelligence ministry said earlier on Thursday it had arrested more suspects linked to the attacks, on top of six Iranians, including one woman, detained on Wednesday.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency said on of the wounded people had died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 17, including two women.
Iranians said there was a heavy police presence, particularly in the capital's busy squares.
People fled for their lives as the gunmen roamed through the parliament building
Mohammadali Rastgou, a shopkeeper in northern Tehran's Tajrish square said: "It feels safe to see police everywhere. Also there are plainclothes officers in shopping centres.”
An eyewitness said: “We have seen worse than this. Iranians will not be intimidated by such attacks. Our country is the safest place in the region.”
Other members of the public accused Saudi Arabia and Iran's long-time foe, the United States, of backing the attacks.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was praying for the victims, but added that "states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote."
Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed what he called the "repugnant White House statement".
He added on Twitter: "Iranian people reject such U.S. claims of friendship."