Two days after the incident, the hypothesis of an attack has not been dismissed. The toll of victims is now at 12 dead and more than 200 wounded. The government's caution two weeks from the second electoral round, while the city prosecutor announces a judicial investigation.

Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Bomb or accident? Doubts linger after the explosion that killed 12 and wounded more than 200 on Saturday, in a mosque in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz.

The Iranian news agency Fars today reports a statement by the chief of police in the province, Ali Moayeri, who speaks of an "accident" due to the "negligence" with which explosive material was handled following celebrations commemorating the war with Iraq (1980-1988).  For his part, the governor of the province, Ebrahim Azizi, in a statement released by the official news agency Irna, has maintained that "initial investigations have ruled out an attack".

But Al Jazeera has reported a statement by Mohammad Anjavinejad, the religious who was preaching inside the mosque, according to whom "someone is trying to demonstrate that it was an accident, in order to depict the city as safe".  Doubts on this hypothesis are raised by the force of the explosion and the presence of a man who left a package inside the building.

The official stance, which tends to rule out an attack, may be explained by the approach of the second round of elections, scheduled to take place in two weeks.  Interviewed by Irna, the prosecutor of Shiraz, Jaber Baneshi, has nonetheless announced "the opening of the judicial investigation to determine the cause of the explosion and the possibility of sabotage".

• Iran
• explosion
• bomb
• mosque
• terrorism
• Shiraz
• investigation
• police