Bomb explosion at mosque in Iran kills several

The semi-official Fars news agency said the explosion in the city of Shiraz went off as a cleric was delivering his weekly speech against extremist Wahabi beliefs and the outlawed Bahai faith. The report said nine people were killed and 105 injured, some of them critically. The force of the explosion shook houses more than a kilometer (a mile) away and ambulances and firefighters were rushing to the mosque, it said.

According to the report by Reuters , "Last night's explosion in Shiraz was as a consequence of an accident and not the planting of a bomb," the official IRNA news agency quoted the deputy interior minister in charge of national security, Abbas Mohtaj, as saying.

"Based on the initial evaluation, the Saturday night explosion ... has not been intentional or sabotage," it quoted the commander of the security forces in the southern Fars province, Ali Moayedi, as saying. "The cause of the incident was probably laxness since a defence fair was held at this place some time ago. There is a possibility that the remaining ammunition at this place was the factor behind this explosion," Moayedi said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the investigation was continuing.

A police official said a homemade bomb caused the explosion, Fars reported. It also quoted a young woman who was there as saying some 800 worshippers were inside the mosque at the time of the explosion.

Bombings are unusual in Shiraz, a major draw for foreign tourists who come to see the ruins of nearby Persepolis, an ancient Persian kingdom that was a center for ceremonies and worship. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iran has faced several ethnic and religious insurgencies that have been behind rare but deadly attacks in recent years - though none have amounted to a serious threat to the government.

In February 2007, a car loaded with explosives blew up near a bus carrying members of Irans Revolutionary Guard, killing 11 of them and wounding more than 30 in southeastern Iran. A Sunni militant group that has been blamed for past attacks on Iranian troops claimed responsibility.

Some believe the group, known as Jundallah is linked to al-Qaida. Jundallah, or Gods Brigade, has waged a low-level insurgency in southeastern Iran.

Besides the violence in the southeast, ethnic Arab Sunni militants have been blamed for bombings in the western city of Ahvaz near the border of Iraq - including blasts in 2006 that killed nine people.

The mosque targeted is part of the Rahpouyan-e-Vesal cultural center in Shiraz, about 900 kilometers (559 miles) south of the capital Tehran. Fars said the mosques cleric gives a weekly speech denouncing the Bahai faith and Wahabism - an austere brand of Sunni Islam practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia. Such speeches are not unusual in Iranian mosques.

The fundamentalist Wahabi strain of Islam considers Shiites heretics and Iran is dominated by Shiite Muslims. Wahabis are suspected of having influence over some militants waging the insurgency in Iraq.

The Bahai faith was founded in the 1860s by a Persian nobleman, Bahaullah, who claimed to be a new prophet in the series that included Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Islam considers Muhammad to be the last of the prophets.

Iran had been the cradle of the Bahai faith in the middle of the 19th century. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, the faith was banned and it is not recognized in the Iranian constitution as a religious minority.

Last year, Bahai communities abroad reported that a group of followers were detained in Shiraz while helping poor communities there.

Photo: Reuters