Cause of blast still unclear - Iranian officials

Shiraz's governor has said: With the help of rescue workers, the people injured in the explosion in the Rahpoyan-e Vesal cultural-religious centre on Saturday [12 April] night have been transferred to medical centres.

We are planning to release the names of the injured through the governor's office with the help of medical centres in the next few hours.

He said that people can call 111 to ask for more information regarding the names of injured people. He added: Preliminary investigations rule out a bomb as the cause of the explosion and there might be other causes for the blast.

Azizi said that complementary investigations are being held in this regard and added: Many people have gathered at the scene and we ask them to leave the area because the information will be given to them later.

Mohammad-Reza Hada'eq, governor-general's deputy for political-security affairs, said: Following the investigations carried out so far we cannot confirm that the explosion was caused by a bomb and more investigation are being held in this regard.

Source: Islamic Republic News Agency, Tehran, in Persian 1937 gmt 12 Apr 08

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