8?killed in Tehran clashes

Death toll in Sunday's clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in Tehran rose to eight, Iran's state-run satellite channel Press TV reported Monday.

"Eight people have been killed in anti-government protests," Iran's Supreme National Security Council was quoted as saying.

An Iranian opposition supporter holds a policeman during clashes in central Tehran December 27, 2009.[Xinhua]?

But the report did not give the details of the deaths.

On Sunday, Iran's police confirmed that five people were killed and more than 300 others arrested during the clashes in Tehran.

"Five people were killed in suspicious circumstances ... and experts are trying to identify the suspects," the official IRNA news agency quoted a statement by the Tehran police as saying.

Iran's deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said earlier Sunday that police were not involved in the killings and the incidents were under investigation, according to Press TV.

"One died after falling from a bridge, two others were run over by cars and the fourth was shot dead by unknown assailants," Radan was quoted as saying.

An Iranian reformist website said earlier that the nephew of Iran's opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Mir- Hossein Mousavi was killed during the clashes.

An Iranian protestor with his face covered with a green mask flashes the victory sign as he holds stones in his hands during clashes in central Tehran December 27, 2009. [Xinhua]

"Ali Mousavi was shot near his heart today at noon and died later in a Tehran hospital," said Parlemannews, a website run by the Iranian parliament's minority reformist faction.

The unrest took place as millions of Iranians held rallies on Sunday across the country to commemorate the Shiite Muslim ritual of Ashura.

Sporadic clashes were seen in some parts of downtown Tehran on Sunday and police forces fired shots into the air and tear gas to disperse protestors, Press TV reported.

Meanwhile, pro-government demonstrators also took to the streets to protest against the opposition, shouting slogans in support of the government, Press TV said.

State television footage showed large crowds of people gathered in every major Iranian cities to commemorate Ashura, which marks the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of Prophet Mohammed, who was killed and buried in Karbala in 680 AD.

The Ashura ritual is performed in Iran and some other countries with large populations of Shiite Muslims. During the annual Ashura commemorations, mourners, generally dressed in black, took to the streets or gathered in mosques to grieve over the death of Hussein.