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11 killed in Iran blast

DUBAI: Mystery surrounds a massive explosion at a mosque in Iran’s southern city of Shiraz which killed 11 persons and wounded 191.

The blast took place on a Saturday when crowds of worshippers had assembled in the mosque to attend a sermon delivered by a prominent Shia cleric.

The death toll could rise as some of the injured are in critical condition.

Iran has been subjected to bomb blasts, but most of them have been confined to the border areas recently.

Iran faced several bomb attacks soon after the 1979 revolution, but such explosions have been few in recent years. There have been conflicting reports on whether Saturday’s explosion was the result of sabotage.

“The incident could have happened as a result of negligence.

A while ago at this site there was an exhibition commemorating the (1980-1988) Iran-Iraq war,” Iran’s Fars news agency quoted a provincial police chief as saying. “The munitions left at the site could have caused this explosion.”

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