Iran quake kills two, injures over 200

A STRONG 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck western Iran near the border with Iraq early on Sunday, killing two people and injuring more than 200, officials said.

The shallow quake hit 26 kilometres (16 miles) southwest of the city of Javanrud in Kermanshah province, the US Geological Survey said, near the site of a powerful quake last year that killed hundreds.

The head of the emergency department Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Saeb Sharidari, told state news agency IRNA that two people were killed and 241 people injured, six critically.

Sharidari said the two dead were a pregnant woman and a 70-year-old man who suffered a heart attack.

Twenty-one aftershocks

IRNA quoted local officials saying electricity had been cut to 70 villages but that it was restored to at least 50 by dawn.

The provincial head of the Red Crescent, Mohammad Reza Amirian, said there had been at least 21 aftershocks.

He said there were potential problems with drinking water due to damaged infrastructure in villages, but it had not yet been necessary to distribute food and tents.

Ke r ma n s h a h g ov e r n o r Houshang Bazvand told the Tasnim news agency that electricity had been temporarily cut to several villages.

A crisis centre was set up, with hospitals and relief organisations placed on alert.