Five dead after arson attack in Iran

June 1, 2009 At least five people have been killed after an arson attack on Monday in Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran. Tens more people were injured at a local subsidiary of the Mehr Financial and Credit Institute.

The casualties were all reported to have been employees of the subsidiary.

"Security has been restored to the city and we have everything under control," said Ahmad Reza Radan, the Iranian deputy chief of police.

The Mehr News Agency quoted a senior police official as stating that the attack comes from rebels who want to shake Sunni-Shiite relations in the country, in the time before the national presidential elections, which are due on June 12.

The incident comes only five days after an attack on a Shiite mosque in the same city killed 25 and injured 125.