One person was killed and four were wounded in an explosion near Tehran's central Imam Hussein square, state-run television reported Sunday afternoon. State-run radio said the blast was caused by a bomb.
Earlier in the day, at least eight people were killed and 75 injured in four bomb blasts that went off near government buildings in southwestern Iran, officials said. The explosions rocked Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan province bordering Iraq, and damaged several buildings, an eyewitness told The Associated Press.
According to IRNA, one of the bombs was planted in a car which was parked outside the governor's office building while two others went off in the restrooms of the two buildings which accommodated the provincial Housing and Urban Development Organization and also the Management and Planning Organization.
The fourth bomb exploded while experts were working to defuse it in a residential area.
A few months ago certain neighborhoods of Ahvaz witnessed clashes between police and ethnic Arabs, in which several state buildings, including banks and police cars were damaged and at least three people killed. Iranian officials highlighted the role of "foreign elements" in the unrest.
The riots broke out following the circulation of a letter attributed to the former Vice President, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, advising the government to move population of Khuzestan to Mazandaran province.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
