Strong Quake Hits Remote Area in Southwest Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A strong, magnitude 6.1 earthquake jolted a sparsely populated mountainous province near Iran's border with Iraq on Monday, Iranian state television reported.

There were no reports of fatalities but a local official said there were injuries and that the temblor had caused damage.

The TV said the quake hit the town of Murmuri, about 310 miles southwest of the capital, Tehran, at 7:02 local time (0232 GMT).

Mohammad Reza Morvarid, the local governor, said an unspecified number of people have been injured and that because minor quakes were felt in the area on Sunday, the residents were somewhat prepared.

Still, he said, "many people have been injured and many buildings have been damaged."

Monday's quake was also felt in neighboring provinces and the U.S. Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 6.3.

Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight quake a day on average. In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.