Mortar shells rock Khatami's office

NICOSIA [MENL] -- Teheran has been rocked by a terrorist bombing campaign.

Several bombs exploded on Saturday night around the presidential palace in Teheran of President Mohammed Khatami. One man was killed and five others were injured in what eyewitnesses said was a mortar attack.

"This criminal act took place during the Ten-day Dawn, the anniversary of the Islamic revolution and on the eve of the elections to the sixth parliament," Iranian television said.

Khatami was in his office but was not injured. The opposition Mujahadeen Khalq claimed responsibility, saying it struck the office of Iranian supreme clerical leader Ali Khamenei, and that of the Expediency Council, headed by former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the explosions were heard on southern Vali-Asr Avenue. Eyewitnesses said they counted seven explosions.

Analysts said the bombings were the first in Teheran since the 1980s during the war with Iraq. Baghdad also harbors and finances the Mujahadeen.

The attacks come amid tensions in the campaign for parliamentary elections on Feb. 18 which pits ruling Islamic clergymen against reformers aligned with President Mohammed Khatami. So far, more than 10 percent of prospective candidates were disqualified, many of them Khatami supporters.

Earlier on Saturday, an Iranian cartoonist was arrested in what reformers said was the latest crackdown against Khatami allies. Nik Ahangh-Kosar was arrested after he drew two cartoons in the Azad daily that ridiculed a leading theologian who charged that the CIA was paying reformist journalists.

The cartoons sparked calls by theology students aligned with the Islamic regime for the dismissal of Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani. State radio reported that Koranic schools in Qom suspended classes on Saturday in solidarity with the student protests against the minister.

For his part, Mohajerani tried to lower tensions. "We hope that religious officials who speak out about the activities of the nation's newspapers will do so in a way that will avoid prompting a negative reaction in the press," he said.