Six people were killed and eight others were injured in an armed hostage-taking incident during a robbery at an industrial company in northwestern Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday.
The attacker was identified as Alireza Ebrahimi-Khaliq, 35, who was killed later during a clash with police.
The assailant, a lathe operator, had a record of attacking a friend with a gun, IRNA said, citing provincial police chief Reza Amiqi, adding that the injured included a 12-year-old boy, as well as a member of the hardline Islamic Basij militia forces.
The injured are "in a stable condition," Amiqi said, cited by the agency.
Earlier, AFP quoted state radio as saying that an armed hostage-taker had stormed a bank in Tabriz, killing five people and injuring two others. It said the hostage-taker, whose identity was not revealed, had also been killed.
Officials have ordered an investigation into the incident and the motives behind the hostage-taking, state media said.
Also on Tuesday, the government-run Iran newspaper said the hostage-crisis took place during an armed attack against a bank in central Tabriz.
"Three men armed with automatic weapons stormed the local Melli Bank where they took the employees hostage before emptying the cash boxes," the daily said.
The paper gave no further details on the fate of the assailants but said they fled to the third floor of the building where they threw the stolen money out of the window onto the street – Albawaba.com
