Slain Iran commander Qassem Soleim laid to rest in his hometown

The body of slain Iran military commander Qassem Soleim, who was killed in a US airstrike last week, was laid to rest in his hometown of Kerman on Wednesday morning, state media said.

Thousands of people were seen weeping during the funeral ceremony of Soleim, Iran's state-run Press TV reported citing CNN.

The burial comes hours after Iran launched a series of attacks on US targets in Iraq including the targetting of two bases at Al-Asad and Abril with over a dozen ballistic missiles. The attacks came in retaliation to Soleim's killing.

Soleim, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force, was killed in a US drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq last Friday.

His death marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the US and Iran, that have often been at a fever pitch since Trump, in 2018, chose to unilaterally withdraw Washington from the 2015 nuclear pact world powers struck with Tehran.

Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who gave Soleim the country's highest honour last year, vowed "severe retaliation" in response to his killing.

The Pentagon accused Soleim of plotting the earlier embassy attack in Iraq and planning to carry out additional attacks on US diplomats and service members in Iraq and the region.

( With inputs from ANI )