Two killed in separate bomb blasts in SW Iran

Two bombs set off minutes apart killed two people and injured dozens others in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, the government said today.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, which were the latest in a string of attacks and ethnic violence this year in Khuzestan province, the heartland of Iran's oil industry.

Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said the two blasts, five minutes apart, occurred close to a shopping centre in central Ahvaz.

"They have killed two people and left 41 injured," he said.

"The bombs were planted in garbage cans," he added.