Qasem Soleimani: Stampede kills 40 mourners at burial in Iran - BBC News

Forty people have been killed in a stampede as Iranians flocked to the burial of a top commander killed in a US drone strike, officials say.

The deaths in Qasem Soleimani's hometown of Kerman led to the postponement of his interment. A new time will be announced later.

Millions are already estimated to have packed the streets for a series of funeral processions in Iran.

Soleimani's killing has raised fears of a conflict between the US and Iran.

He was widely considered the second most powerful man in Iran behind Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The US saw him as a terrorist and a threat to American troops.

BBC's Feras Kilani with the view from Baghdad as the US Defence Secretary Mark Esper has denied US troops are pulling out of Iraq, after a letter from a US general there suggested a withdrawal.

The letter said the US would be "repositioning forces in the coming days and weeks" after Iraqi MPs had called for them to leave.

Mr Esper said there had been "no decision whatsoever to leave".

The confusion came amid threats to American forces after the US killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.

He died in a US drone strike in Baghdad on Friday on the orders of Mr Trump.

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