One person was killed and two wounded when armed men opened fire on a bus in southern Iran, the official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday, the latest incident of violence to rock the region.
“Armed rebels killed a passenger and wounded two others when they fired on a bus traveling from Zahedan to Bam,” Zahedan deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said.
Zahedan is the capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan and has been the site of deadly violence in the last few days ahead of the June 12 presidential poll.
PHOTO: AFP
Radan said police were searching for the attackers.
Meanwhile, two presidential hopefuls, reformist former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and conservative former Revolutionary Guards head Mohsen Rezai, clashed in a rare face-to-face TV debate series that began on Tuesday.
Karroubi, clad in the traditional Shiite clerical robe, sat facing Rezai who wore a light beige suit, in a studio with the moderator taking the center seat as the state-run TV showed the debate.
The first of six debates came ahead of the election that is being held against the backdrop of a deteriorating economy and rising international pressure on Tehran to abandon its sensitive nuclear activities.
Rezai said his priority, if elected president, would be the economy.
“I am seeking to have an economic revolution. I intend to change the economy from a state-controlled one to one that sees significant private sector participation,” he said.
Karroubi countered with a populist promise, saying he would distribute “the profits of oil earnings to every Iranian above 18 years of age.”
He also said he would focus on “employment generation and protecting citizens’ rights.”
Rezai shot back: “I will personally deal with any infringes on the citizens’ rights the first few times to make sure that everyone understands the gravity of the situation. I am very serious about it.”
“Mr Rezai, you well know that we have good laws but unfortunately they are not followed or executed well due to narrow mindedness or in accordance to the executors’ taste,” Karroubi said without elaborating.
Before the debate began, the moderator warned that any criticism of the other candidates — incumbent Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi — would not be permitted as the two were not present.
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