Earthquake shakes Iran's western Kermanshah province

Semi-official ISNA News Agency says the temblor rocked the Kurdish town of Sarpol-e Zahab, about 520 kilometres (320 miles) west of Tehran on Saturday.

It says the earthquake's depth was eight kilometres (five miles). There was no immediate report on damages or casualties.

Earlier in November, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck western Iran, killing more than 600 and injuring more than 9,000. Sarpol-e Zahab suffered half of the temblor's casualties.

Shortly after November’s quake, rescuers used backhoes and heavy equipment to dig through the debris of buildings to find corpses, with weeping women crying out to God as aid workers found new bodies.

The grim work began in earnest again at dawn in the Kurdish town of Sarpol-e-Zahab in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah.

Both rescuers and local residents alike stood atop the remains of apartment complexes, looking through the rubble. They used heavy blankets to carry away corpses.

The hospital in Sarpol-e-Zahab was heavily damaged, and the army set up field hospitals, although many of the injured were moved to other cities, including Tehran.

Another earthquake took place in December in which a pregnant woman died and 97 people were injured as a 5.2 magnitude earthquake sparked panic in the Iranian capital and neighbouring areas late on Wednesday, officials said.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck shortly before 11:30 pm (2000 GMT), was just 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the capital, according to the seismological centre of the University of Tehran.

The woman died as she ran out of her home in the city of Malard, close to the epicentre, the county's prefect said.

Iran is located on major seismic faults and experiences almost a quake per day on average.