Five killed, over 300 arrested in Tehran clashes: Iran's police

TEHRAN, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran's police confirmed on Sunday that five people were killed and more than 300 others arrested during clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in Tehran.

An Iranian opposition supporter holds a policeman during clashes in central Tehran December 27, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

"Five people were killed in suspicious circumstances and experts are trying to identify the suspects," the official IRNA news agency quoted a statement by the Tehran police as saying.

Iran's deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said earlier that at least four people were killed in the unrest but police were not involved, Iran's satellite channel Press TV reported.

"One died after falling from a bridge, two others were run over by cars and the fourth was shot dead by unknown assailants," Radan was quoted as saying.

Iranian police were not involved in the killings and the incidents were under investigation, Radan said, adding that over 300 people were arrested during the protests.

The semi-official Fars News Agency quoted an unnamed source with the Iranian Intelligence Ministry as saying that some members of the terrorist organization People's Mujahedin of Iran were arrested in the unrest.

An Iranian reformist website said earlier that the

An Iranian reformist website said earlier that the nephew of Iran's opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi was killed Sunday during the clashes in Tehran.

"Ali Mousavi was shot near his heart today at noon and died later in a Tehran hospital," said Parlemannews, a website run by the Iranian parliament's minority reformist faction.

Sporadic clashes were seen in some parts of downtown Tehran and police forces fired shots into the air and tear gas to disperse protestors, Press TV reported.