Iran protests spread, death toll rises

AFP|TEHRAN: Eleven people, four of them security personnel, have been killed in growing protests over the death of a young woman in morality police custody, Iranian news agencies reported Thursday.

Three militiamen were stabbed or shot dead after they had been “mobilised to deal with rioters”, in Mashhad in the northeast, Qazvin in the centre and Tabriz in the northwest, the reports said.

A fourth member of the security forces was killed in the southern city of Shiraz, they said, adding that a protester had also been stabbed to death in Qazvin.

Iranian officials had previously confirmed the deaths of six demonstrators.

Four died in Kurdistan, the home province of Mahsa Amini, the young woman whose death last week triggered the protests, and two in Kermanshah, another province with a large Kurdish community. 

The Iranian authorities have denied any involvement in the deaths of protesters.