REUTERS -- More than 30 people were injured after an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit northeastern Iran on Thursday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The quake hit at 4:05 pm, 10 km (6 miles) outside the city of Neyshabur which is some 70 km away from the holy city of Mashhad, the official IRNA news agency said.
The official IRNA news agency said about 20 aftershocks had hit since the main quake, adding that some windows were shattered in villages around Neyshabur.
"Based on the reports we have received so far, 36 people were injured after the quake hit Neyshabur. Their injuries are mild," Fars quoted local official Reza Abbasi as saying.
ILNA reported that the quake lasted seven seconds and was the strongest felt in the region for 10 years.
Many parts of Iran are prone to earthquakes. At least seven people were killed in a 6.5-magnitude quake that jolted the southeast in 2010, the same region where a huge tremor killed some 31,000 people in the city of Bam in 2003.
(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian and Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Robin Pomeroy)
