State radio: 7 killed in Tehran clashes

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-16 14:41

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's state radio says seven people died in clashes in Tehran after an "unauthorized gathering" following a mass rally over alleged election fraud.

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's state radio reported Tuesday that clashes in the Iranian capital the previous night left seven people dead after an "unauthorized gathering" following a mass rally over alleged election fraud.

The seven were killed in shooting that erupted after protesters in western Tehran "tried to attack a military location," the radio said, providing no details.

It was the first official confirmation of Monday's fatalities in Tehran's Azadi Square, where witnesses had seen at least one person shot dead and several others seriously wounded by gunfire from a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard.

The deaths also were the first known in Tehran since rioting and protests broke out after last week's disputed elections — raising the prospect of possibility of further defiance and anger from crowds claiming the vote was rigged in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Another protest march is planned later Tuesday.

Some hundreds of thousands of supporters of leading opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims there was voting fraud in Friday's presidential election, turn out to protest the result of the election at a mass rally in Azadi (Freedom) square in Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 15, 2009. [Agencies]

The shootings occurred after hundreds of thousands of people supporting opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi defied an official ban on the march and gathered to protest fraud in last week's election.

At Azidi Square, standing on a roof, gunmen opened fire on a group of protesters who had tried to storm the militia's compound on the edge of the square. Angry men showed their bloody palms after cradling the dead and wounded who had been part of a crowd that stretched more than five miles (nearly 10 kilometers).

The march also marked Mousavi's first public appearance since shortly after the election and said he was willing to "pay any price" in his demands to overturn the election results.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, arrived in Russia on Tuesday to attend a regional security summit, after having postponed the trip for one day.

A Web site run by Iran's former reformist vice president, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, said he had been arrested by security officers, but provided no further details. Abtahi's Web site, popular among the youth, has reported extensively on the alleged vote fraud after Friday's election.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said Monday he was "deeply troubled by the violence I've been seeing on TV."

Although he said he had no way of knowing whether the election was valid, Obama praised protesters and Iranian youth who questioned the results. "The world is watching and is inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," he said.

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