Quake strikes Iran's border towns with Iraq, several killed

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) ANKARA: Several people were killed and many others were injured in border areas of Iran when an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 struck neighbouring Iraq on Sunday, Iran's state TV reported.

'The quake was felt in several Iranian provinces bordering Iraq ... Eight villages were damaged ... Electricity has been cut in some villages and rescue teams have been dispatched to those areas, TV reported.

Iranian media gave contradictory figures on the number of people killed in the quake. Semi-official Fars news agency and state news agency IRNA said at least six people were killed and many others injured in the border town of Qasr-e Shirin.

But governor of Qasr-e Shirin Faramarz Akbari said only two people had died in the town and 25 others were injured.

Semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted an emergency services official as saying there were fears that casualties in villages and small towns could be high.

People were staying out on the streets in towns in the Western Kermanshah province because of the threat from aftershocks, a local Red Crescent official told TV. Many houses in rural parts of the province are made of mud bricks and are known to crumble easily in quake-prone Iran.

Local people said in media reports and on Twitter they had felt several aftershocks. TV said schools were closed in the Kermanshah and Ilam provinces on Monday.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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