Crackdown on demonstrators in Iran protests killed at least 4,029 people, activists say

A crackdown on demonstrators taking part in nationwide protests in Iran killed at least 4,029 people, activists said Tuesday.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offered the toll, saying more than 26,000 people have been detained in the crackdown as well.

It said of the dead, 3,786 were demonstrators, 180 security forces, 28 children and 35 were people not demonstrating.

It fears many more may have been killed.

The agency has been accurate in previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists on the ground to confirm each death. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll in part due to the government shutting down the internet in Iran.

Iranian officials have not given a clear death toll, although on Saturday, the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the protests had left “several thousand” people dead and blamed the United States for the deaths. It was the first indication from an Iranian leader of the extent of the casualties from the wave of protests that began Dec. 28 over Iran's ailing economy.

The agency also reported over 26,000 people had been arrested. Comments from officials have led to fears of some of those detained being put to death in Iran, one of the world's top executioners. “While the killers and seditious terrorists will be punished, Islamic mercy and leniency will be applied to those who were deceived and did not have (effective) roles in the terrorist event,'' a statement Monday from Iran's president, its judiciary chief and parliament speaker said.