Five bombs killed nine people in Iran on Sunday, local broadcasts say.
INDEPTH: Iran
There is no explanation for the attacks, but an Iranian official suggested the bombs were linked to the presidential elections set for Friday.
FROM MAY 10, 2005: Rafsanjani joins Iranian presidential race
Former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic conservative, is expected to win, beating a group of mainly religious hardliners.
Bombings are unusual in Iran. The attacks were the most serious in more than 10 years.
Eight people died when four bombs exploded in the western city of Ahvaz, near the Iraqi border. Hours later, a bomb in Tehran killed one. At least 40 people were injured in the attacks.
The Ahvaz bombs appeared to be placed outside official buildings or the homes of senior officials, while the Tehran blast was near a public square.
There were riots in Ahvaz in April after the government was reported to be planning to flood the local Arab population by forcing non-Arabs to move to the city.
Arabs are a tiny minority in Iran, where Persians account for about half the population and different minorities the rest.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/06/12/iran-bombs050612.html