The number of civilians killed by Iranian security forces during a bloody crackdown of protests, the largest wave in recent years, appears to be significantly higher than reported or believed so far, according to a Sunday Times report, citing information collected by a network of doctors inside Iran.
More than 16500 people have died, according to these latest numbers, more than triple the estimates of international NGOs and human rights groups over the past weeks.
According to the doctors, most of the victims were under 30, with the injured approaching 350 thousand, many remaining in critical condition. The dead include children and pregnant women.
The same sources say that most civilians were killed in the space of two days immediately following the internet access black out imposed by Iranian authorities. The numbers were gathered by eight major opthalmological centre and 16 ER doctors across the country. The doctors communicated the evidence through Starlink satellite terminals that were smuggled into Iran.
The Sunday Times further reported that security forces made extensive use of military equipment. 'This was a whole new level of savagery', German Iranian opthalmologist Amir Parasta told the British newspaper, disclosing that most of the victims had bullet and schrapnel wounds to the head, neck and chest.
An Iranian official confirmed that 5 thousand protesters had been killed.
There were also instances of injured civilians suffering a horrific death after being denied transfusions, with many saved by doctors who donated blood themselves.
Up to a thousand people appear to have lost their eyesight after being shot by police with hunting rifles.
Following almost a month of protests which gradually turned from a cry against the dire financial crisis plaguing Iran into a mass movement demanding regime change, the situation in the country appears calm, but fragile.
In a recent speech, spiritual leader Ali Khamenei referred to several thousand dead, while today he warned that the US and the West will not succeed in their efforts to subdue his country.
Meanwhile, President Trump is still mulling a military intervention, claiming that '800 hangings had been scheduled in Iran but called off,' as soon as he warned with a strike.
SOURCE-CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY