TEHRAN, July 31, 2010 (AFP) - A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Iran on Saturday, reports said without providing details on any casualties, a day after a weaker quake injured over 270 people in the country's northeast.
The latest temblor rattled the southern province of Kerman at 11:22 am (0652 GMT), the website of state television reported, citing the geophysics department of Tehran university.
It disrupted communications, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Fars news agency said the epicentre was in the town of Negar in southwest Kerman. It also said there were no immediate reports of casualties, and added the area where the quake struck was rural.
On Friday, a 5.7 magnitude quake rattled northeastern Khorasan Razavi province, leaving at least 274 people injured, ILNA news agency reported, adding only 12 victims were hospitalised.
Iran, including the capital Tehran, sits astride several major fault lines in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating.
The worst in recent times, of magnitude 6.3, hit the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people -- about a quarter of its population -- and destroying the city's ancient mud-built citadel.
