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Blasts rock Iran's oil city

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: At least six persons have been killed and 40 injured in two bomb blasts in Ahvaz, capital of Iran's oil rich Kuzestan province. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the first bomb exploded in the Government's Natural Resources Department, while another went off close to a bank in the city's Kianpars road.

The Kuzestan province has Iran's largest oil reserves and borders Iraq, across the strategic Shatt-al-Arab waterway, which leads into the waters of the Persian Gulf.

Kuzestan has a large Arab population, and Ahvaz has witnessed ethnic unrest in April, apart from bomb blasts in June and October last year. The region was devastated during the eight year Iran-Iraq war in the eighties. The explosions took place when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had planned a visit and was to deliver a speech at a religious centre there. The AFP news agency quoted officials as saying Mr. Ahmadinejad's visit was cancelled on Monday due to bad weather.

The incidents are likely to sour relations between Iran and Britain, which has been blamed by Iranian officials for the blasts in Ahvaz last year.

Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and key western countries including the U.S. and Britain appear to be heightening over Teheran's nuclear programme.

Iran, on Monday, warned that it would end U.N. inspections and begin uranium enrichment on an industrial scale if it was hauled before the Security Council, for possible sanctions.

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