The death toll from Iran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests reached at least 5,002 people killed Friday, activists said, warning many more still were feared dead as the most comprehensive internet blackout in the country crossed the two-week mark.

The challenge in getting information out of Iran persists due to authorities cutting off access to the world through the internet on January 8, even as tensions rise between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East.

The US-based Human Rights Activists’ News Agency offered the toll, saying 4,716 were demonstrators, 203 were government-affiliated, 43 were children and 40 were civilians not taking part in the protests. It added that over 26,800 people had been detained in a widening arrest campaign by authorities.

The agency has been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. Other groups have said the total death toll from the protests will be far higher.

Iran’s government offered its first death toll on Wednesday, saying 3,117 people were killed. It added that 2,427 of the dead in the demonstrations that began December 28 were civilians and security forces, with the rest being “terrorists.” Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

The Associated Press........

© The Times of Israel