At least five killed, dozens injured in Iran's bomb blasts

At least five people were killed and dozens of others injured in bombs blasts simultaneously near public facilities in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz Sunday morning, said reports reaching Tehran from the oil city.

At least five people were killed and over 80 wounded in the blasts, Gholamreza Shariati, deputy governor for Khuzestan province, of which Ahvaz is the capital, was quoted as saying.

But state television, quoting a medical sources, said eight people were killed.

Shariati told state television that the unidentified attackers were trying to "attack the territorial integrity of the country and damage the election process", though he cause for the chain explosions is not clear yet.

Earlier, an informed source told Xinhua through telephone that the explosions took place in three different places, one is near a government building, the second near an educational institution and the third near a civilian building, the source said.

The blasts came just five days ahead of Iran's ninth presidential elections.

Ahvaz, the capital city of the oil rich Khuzestan province bordering Iraq, just witnessed in mid-April a wave of riots touched off by a forged letter which was said to be written by former Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi to promote a coercive migration of the ethnic Arabs in the province. Iranian officials said one person died during the riots.

Khuzestan accounts for almost 90 percent of Iran's nearly 132 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and most of the country's 2 million ethnic Arabs.

Source: Xinhua