The police commander of Iran's Fars province and his bodyguard were seriously wounded in an attack, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The Kayhan paper said General Hossein Zolfaghari and his bodyguard were shot several times with an automatic weapon while trying to arrest several youths who were stealing a car in the southern city of Shiraz.
Zolfaghari opened fire and the youths returned shots, wounding the two men, it said, adding that the police chief was hit in the face and that both required surgery. Doctors said they are out of danger.
Fars province has been wracked by a severe crime wave in recent weeks and provincial judiciary spokesman Hossein-Ali Amiri has warned that thieves from now on will be punished in public "as a lesson for everybody." – TEHRAN (AFP)
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