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Five Reported Killed In Arson Attack In Southeastern Iran


Workers clean up the Amir al-Momenin Mosque after a bombing in the city of Zahedan on May 28
Workers clean up the Amir al-Momenin Mosque after a bombing in the city of Zahedan on May 28
(RFE/RL) -- At least five people have been killed in an arson attack on a building in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan, where a bomb attack on a Shi'ite mosque last week left 25 people dead.

Iran's official English-language Press TV said dozens were also injured in the blaze at the local subsidiary of Iran's Mehr Financial and Credit Institute.

Witnesses told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the arson attack occurred on May 31. Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan Province, home to mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis.

A senior police official was earlier quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying security had been restored and a number of people -- both Sunnis and Shi'a -- have been arrested in Zahedan following the sectarian violence.

But Radio Farda reports that at least two people -- apparently Sunnis -- were killed in renewed violence in the city on June 1.

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