Saturday, April 12, 2008

Several dead in Iran mosque blast

Masjed-e Shohada (Martyr's Mosque) was built by the local ruler Sa'd ibn Zangi, patron of the poet Saadi, at the end of the 12th century. It is one of the largest ancient mosques in Iran but sadly it has been extensively damaged by earthquakes

From Al Jazeera English
Several dead in Iran mosque blast
Eight people have been killed and 50 others wounded in an explosion in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, a national news agency has reported.
The explosion on Saturday was caused by "a powerful bomb at Shiraz's Mosque of the Martyrs after evening prayers," a report by Fars news agency said, citing city officials.
The death toll is expected to rise due to the severity of some people's injuries, officials have said.
Mohamed Hasan al-Bahrani, Al Jazeera's Tehran bureau chief, said that available information says that a bomb detonated in the mosque after Maghreb and Isha prayers.
The explosion took place in the section where males were praying, according to reports.
Shiraz is close to a number of ancient sites popular with tourists.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
The last major bombing in Iran occurred in the south-eastern city of Zahedan in February 2007.
Thirteen members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard died in that blast, with Sunni fighters blamed for the attack.


From IRNA
Bomb blast in Shiraz wounds many
Shiraz-Bomb Blast
According to reports from Shiraz, a bomb blast at a Hosseiniyeh (a religious center) in a central Shiraz district wounded dozens of worshipers, some very critically.
Local sources say here that the explosion took part at central city of Fars Province's Seyyed ul-Shohada Hosseiniyeh.
According to IRNA reporter in Shiraz, the explosion wave was so strong that the glasses of the windows of many houses in neighboring regions of the Hosseiniyeh broke and intimidated the residents.
There are still no exact reports on the number of the wounded, or killed victims of the explosion, but the relief and fire station forces are currently present at the explosion site assisting the victims.
Some unofficial sources speak of a high number of casualties due to the blast.
IRNA would dispatch more complete reports upon receiving them.

4 comments:

Vigilante said...

"Bomb Blast"? Apparently just an accident. Disappointed? Not that sensational, huh? Are you given to chasing ambulances?

BostonMaggie said...

You really are in quite the mood this weekend! Try chocolate, might stabilize you.

"Bomb blast" was how al Jezeera chose to phrase it, not me. As a matter of fact, ever a cursory reading would show that it was posted without any comment from my at all.

Anonymous said...

Interesting and sensational if it was an accident as well.

BostonMaggie said...

Yes, it is quite interesting. Further stories mention munitions being stored in the mosque as some sort of exhibit about the Iran-Iraq war.