Five people died and dozens were wounded during unrest in Iran's southeastern city of Zahedan following a bombing of a Shia mosque that killed 25 people there last week, Iranian television reported today.
Clashes between backers and opponents of a Sunni cleric in the city erupted less than two weeks before the officially Shia 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.
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 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 television 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.
Three men convicted of involvement in the bombing, the deadliest such incident in Iran since its 1980-88 war with Iraq, were executed in public in Zahedan Saturday.
A Sunni opposition group named Jundollah (God's Soldiers), which Iran says is part of the Islamist al Qaeda network and backed by the United States, said it was behind the mosque bombing, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported on Friday.
Iran has previously accused the United States, its arch-foe, of supporting Sunni rebels operating on its border with Pakistan. Jundollah says it fights for the rights of Iran's minority Sunni population.
Iran's Interior Ministry declined to comment on Monday's Press TV report, which Iranian-language media did not carry.
Press TV said violence erupted after some people objected to Sunni prayer leader Molavi Abdolhamid attending Sunday's commemoration ceremony for those who died in the mosque blast.
Sunnis also took to the streets in response to rumours he had been assassinated, "prompting rogue elements to attack and vandalize a number of public places," it said on its Web site.
It carried footage showing a heavy presence of riot police and what appeared to be a burning car on a street.
Reuters