Iran vows to hunt down and execute pre-vote bombers

TEHRAN, Monday (AFP) Iran's security apparatus was mobilised Monday to track down the culprits behind a string of pre-election bomb attacks, with a top judicial official vowing the perpertrators will be executed.

"On the express order of President Mohammad Khatami, all the members of the security services and the police have been called on to find the authors of these crimes," the interior ministry was quoted as saying by the student agency ISNA reported Monday.

At least eight people were killed Sunday and 75 wounded in four blasts in Ahvaz, an ethnic Arab majority city close to the Iraqi border, while two more died in an evening blast that hit a busy square in Tehran.

The bombings came just days before the Islamic republic goes to the polls to on Friday elect a successor to Khatami. "The dirty hands of the opponents of the regime and the enemies of the people have struck once again to prevent people for turning out en masse in the elections," the ministry added.

The ultra-hardline prosecutor in Tehran, Said Mortazavi, also spelled out what fate awaits those behind the attacks. "Those who planted the bombs are the enemies of God and they will be executed when they are captured," he said.

"The police, the intelligence ministry and the courts will lead an enquiry and we hope to identify and arrest the criminals soon." Iran blamed "terrorists" and Arab separatists sheltered by US troops in neighbouring Iraq for the bombings in Ahvaz.