TEHRA -- At least 56 people were killed in a stampede at the funeral held for the slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iran's southeastern city of Kerman on Tuesday, said the head of Iran's Emergency Center.

The stampede also caused the injury of 213 others, Pir Hossein Kolivand was quoted as saying by Press TV.

Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, was killed in a US airstrike near Baghdad International Airport on Friday.

Kerman is the birthplace of Soleimani.