Suicide hit, poll protests rock Iran

TEHRAN (Reuters/AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at the shrine of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on Saturday, killing himself and wounding three pilgrims, the official IRNA news agency and state television channel Press TV reported.
It said the wounded included two people from Arab countries who suffered minor injuries. The third casualty was an Iranian.
Earlier the Mehr news agency said the attack took place at the entrance to the shrine where devotees leave their footwear before entering the main mausoleum.
A terrorist detonated his explosive vest in the Imam Khomeini shrine. The blast caused damage in one section of the shrine, Irans deputy police chief for operations, Hossein Sajedinia, was quoted as saying by Mehr.
The semi-official Fars news agency said the bombing took place at the northern wing of the shrine. Its report was confirmed by a senior police official.
Press TV earlier said two people had been killed and eight injured in the bombing, which was likely to inflame anger among Iranians who revere the founder of the Islamic Republic.
Elsewhere in Tehran, Iranian riot police used teargas and fired shots into the air to disperse demonstrators protesting against a disputed presidential election, a witness told Reuters.
Thousands of protesters clashed with police as they defied an ultimatum from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for an end to protests over last weeks disputed presidential election.
At least one person was wounded when shots rang out, a witness told AFP after the rally which, like other Opposition protests over the past week, was off-limits to the foreign media.
Riot police deployed in force, firing teargas, using batons and water cannon to disperse protesters who had assembled in Enghelab Square in the heart of the capital, witnesses said.
The said 2,000 to 3,000 were on the streets, fewer than the hundreds of thousands earlier in the week, but a clear challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who used a speech on Friday to endorse disputed election results that gave hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a landslide victory.
Supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi set on fire a building in southern Tehran used by backers of President Ahmadinejad, a witness said.
The witness also said police shot into the air to disperse rival supporters in Tehrans south Karegar street.
Teargas billowed up from Enghelab (Revolution) Square as riot police confronted demonstrators, a witness said.
A witness said protesters had decided to spread out into smaller groups in the Iranian capital because of the massive police presence in the square.
The robocops beat us up badly, one protester told AFP. Men and women were beaten up... My whole body is bruised... They confiscated my camera.
Another witness said: Lots of guards on motorbikes closed in on us and beat us brutally.
Members of the Basij Islamic militia, which has been at the forefront of the regimes efforts to face down a week of protests against official results giving Ahmadinejad a new four-year term, were again out in force.
A police commander said earlier that his forces would deal firmly with any more street protests over the June 12 vote.
The head of Irans security council, Abbas Mohtaj, sent a specific warning to Ahmadinejads main challenger, moderate former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Your national duty tells you to refrain from provoking illegal gatherings, he wrote in the letter made public on Saturday.
The Etemad-e Melli party of losing candidate Mehdi Karoubi said plans for a rally had been scrapped for lack of a permit and an ally of Mousavi said the moderate politician had not summoned his followers back to the streets.