Small bomb blast near BP, British Airways in Iran

02 Nov 2005 09:41:00 GMT Source: Reuters

TEHRAN, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A small bomb exploded outside the offices of BP and British Airways in Tehran on Wednesday, causing some damage but no casualties, police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which appeared to be a carbon copy of a bombing outside the same offices in August. The perpetrators of the August blast have not been identified.

Anglo-Iranian diplomatic relations are experiencing a rough patch, with Tehran obstructing British imports and accusing London of fomenting Arab separatist bomb attacks this year in the southwestern oil province of Khuzestan.

Britain has taken a lead role in trying to convince Iran to stop making atomic fuel, which Washington fears could be used in nuclear weapons, and has accused Iran of having links to Iraqi insurgents.

"One hand-made bomb exploded, it only shattered a few window panes," said police spokesman Mehdi Ahmadi.

"There were no casualties," he added.

An office worker at the building located on a busy Tehran street said the device had been placed in a trash can near the elevator on the 10th floor.

"It was like the previous time ... The glass entrance door of BP was smashed and the BP office has been evacuated," he said.

In London, a spokesman for British Airways said the bomb was a "percussion device ... designed to create more noise than damage".

He said staff at BA's franchise partner BMED, which operates daily flights between Tehran and London, were working as normal.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said embassy staff were on their way to the scene. "We are in contact with the affected companies. And we're not aware of any casualties," he said.

(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Alireza Ronaghi in Tehran, David Cullen and Peter Graff in London) - actual report