Blast Kills One, Wounds Three in Tehran

Reuters, ABC News:

A small bomb concealed in a rubbish container exploded in central Tehran on Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding three, officials said. The dead man, his stomach ripped open by the blast, lay on the ground. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast, near a petrol station in a street off Imam Hossein square in a crowded commercial district of the capital. READ MORE

"There is one dead and three wounded," said Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani. "Explosive material was hidden in a rubbish bin. The investigation is continuing."

Security is normally tight in Iran, where bomb attacks have been rare in recent years.

Earlier in the day four bombs went off in the southwestern oil city of Ahvaz, killing six people and wounding 70, the city governor said. Iran holds a presidential election on Friday.

"I saw four people being taken to an ambulance. They could have been dead, they were completely covered in blood," said a Tehran bystander who gave his name only as Houshang.

Omid, a telecommunications worker, said: "I was two blocks away when I heard a giant explosion. What's going on? First in Ahvaz and now in Tehran?"

Many Iranian opposition leaders feel that the explosions may be the work of the regime to distract the media away from the large "Women's Rights" demonstration held today in Tehran. Nearly all Iranian opposition leaders have denounced violent opposition to the Iranian regime, instead endorsing the non-violent civil rights methods used in other countries around the world that have recently overthrown their own totalitarian regimes. The next week could prove critical in the efforts of Iranian pro-democracy forces inside of Iran to bring world attention to their struggle.