Two bombs concealed in separate garbage bins exploded in a downtown shopping mall in the southern Iran city of Ahwaz, leaving at least four people dead and 75 wounded, state-run television reported. This is the first bombing since Iran's presidential elections in June, when a string of explosions went off in Ahwaz and in Tehran. Eight people were killed and 75 wounded in four bombings in Ahwaz.
No arrests were announced in connection with those bombings, but the government blamed the attacks on Arab separatists with links to foreign governments, including British forces based on the other side of the border, in Iraq.
Iran repeated its accusation in recent weeks that British forces were provoking unrest after Britain accused Iran of training and arming insurgents in Iraq.
State-run television showed videotape of cars with smashed windows, and pools of blood on the ground.
The bombs went off three minutes apart at around 5pm, an hour before the fasting time during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan ended and people were busy shopping or rushing home. Most of the wounded were women, and the windows of most shops were shattered.
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