Iran blast blamed on 'counter-revolutionaries'

A blast that killed nine people attending a military parade in the northwestern Iranian city of Mahabad on Wednesday was the work of militants, a local official said.

"Counter-revolutionary groups, by inserting themselves among the people attending the armed forces parade, showed their heinous faith," Vahid Jalalzadeh, the provincial governor of Iran's West Azerbaijan province, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.