Bombs Kill 4, Injure 100 in Iran’s Oil-Rich Region

Two bombs that exploded minutes apart killed four people and wounded more than 100 in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, the government said Saturday.

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 in the afternoon close to a shopping center in central Ahvaz. He said the bombs had been planted in garbage cans.

Iranian state television reported that four people were killed and at least 102 injured. Some of the injured were in critical condition, said the broadcast, which showed pools of blood on the pavement.

The majority of Iran’s Arabic-speaking minority live in Khuzestan, which borders Iraq.

Officials have blamed the violence on exile-based separatist groups and have suggested that some of the perpetrators might have received training in Britain. London denies the charge.

Violence erupted in Khuzestan in April, and at least five people were killed during several days of anti-government demonstrations.

A string of bomb attacks just before national elections in June killed seven people in Ahvaz. Small bombs damaged 15 pipelines and an oil well in Khuzestan in September.