GUNMEN OPEN FIRE IN IRANIAN MARKET, KILL 5

DUBAI : Gunmen opened fire in a bazaar in the southwestern Iranian city of Izeh on Wednesday, killing at least five people, including a young girl, and wounding civilians and security forces, state TV reported.

Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of the Khuzestan province, where Izeh is located, told state TV that a young girl and a woman were among those killed.

In a separate attack, gunmen shot dead two members of Iran’s paramilitary Basij in the central city of Isfahan, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. In both attacks, the gunmen were reportedly riding motorcycles.

It was not immediately clear what motivated the attacks or if they were linked to the nationwide protests that have convulsed Iran over the past two months.