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Ahmadinejad motorcade hit by cracker, not grenade
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (C) waves to the crowd as people welcome him to Hamadan, 336 kilometres southwest of Tehran, on August 04, 2010. Iranian President Ahmadinejad's motorcade was not attacked by a grenade an official in his media office told AFP, explaining that the earlier an explosion was from a "firecracker." AFP PHOTO
Posted Wednesday, August 4 2010 at 18:04
TEHRAN, Wednesday
A conservative website reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s motorcade came under grenade attack in western Iran, but an official said a firecracker caused the blast.
“This morning a hand grenade exploded next to a vehicle carrying reporters accompanying the president” in the city of Hamedan, reported Khabaronline, a news website close to parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
“Ahmadinejad’s car was 100 metres away and he was not hurt,” it said, adding that the alleged attacker was detained.
Iran’s Mehr news agency quoting witnesses said a “hand-made noise bomb exploded a far distance from the president’s car” in Hamedan.
“Nobody was hurt and several people have been arrested,” the agency said. Mr Ahmadinejad later delivered a live televised speech to locals gathered in a stadium in Hamedan but made no reference to the alleged incident.
An official in Ahmadinejad’s media office told AFP that the explosion was from a “firecracker.”
“It was a firecracker, and a statement will be released soon,” the official said. Iran’s ISNA and ILNA news agencies also said the blast was caused by a “firecracker” while Fars news agency said a “hand-made grenade” had been thrown at the motorcade.
“After the president’s motorcade passed someone threw a hand-made grenade at the vehicles behind it,” Fars said.
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