Five die as violence hits Iranian city

Five people died and dozens were wounded during unrest in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan following a bombing of a Shi'ite mosque that killed 25 people there last week, Iranian TV reported yesterday.

Clashes between backers and opponents of a Sunni cleric in the city erupted less than two weeks before the officially Shi'ite Muslim country holds an election in which conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces a challenge from reformers.

The deputy commander of Iran's security forces, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan, said a number of people planning to sow sectarian discord were arrested and that order had been restored in Zahedan, where many of Iran's minority Sunnis live.

Officials have blamed both Thursday's mosque bombing in Zahedan and a separate incident where a bomb was found on a plane two days later on Iran's Western foes, with one saying they wanted to "create a security-threat environment" ahead of the June 12 presidential election.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who often rails against Iran's western enemies, runs against moderate opponents advocating detente in the Islamic Republic's international relations in the vote.

Sectarian violence is relatively rare in Iran, whose leaders reject allegations by Western rights groups that the country discriminates against ethnic and religious minorities.

The five people who died in the unrest that broke out in Zahedan on Sunday were victims of an arson attack on a financial and credit institute building in the city of about 600,000 people, Iran's Press TV said.

Dozens of civilians were reportedly also wounded in clashes fuelled by rumours a senior Sunni cleric had been assassinated, the English-language TV station reported.

Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, home to the Islamic Republic's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis. Close to the borders of both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the region is scene of frequent clashes between security forces and heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits.