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TEHERAN, IRAN - AN earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale on Tuesday shook part of northern Iran near the city of Zanjan, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The agency said that no casualties had been reported by 11.30am (0700 GMT) but telephone communications with the affected area had been disrupted.
The earthquake struck some 16km east of Zanjan at 10.48am (0618 GMT) causing panic and sending people running into open areas.
A natural disaster official in Zanjan province, Mohammad Reza Barati, was quoted as saying that an Iranian Red Crescent team has been sent to the areas to investigate the damage.
Iran sits astride several major faults in the earth's crust, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of them devastating.
The worst quake in recent times hit Bam in the southeastern Kerman province in December 2003, killing 31,000 people, about a quarter of the city's population, and destroying the city's ancient mud-built citadel.
Teheran alone sits on two major fault lines, and the 7.5 million residents of the capital fear a major quake. -- AFP
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