Earthquake hits northeast Iran, 100 injured

TEHRAN (Reuters) - About 100 people were injured when an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit northeastern Iran on Thursday, state television reported.

The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 4:05 p.m., was 10 km (6 miles) outside the city of Neyshabur, some 70 km from the holy city of Mashhad, the official IRNA news agency said.

There had so far been 36 aftershocks since the main quake, IRNA said, adding that some buildings had been damaged and windows shattered in villages near Neyshabur.

"So far 100 people have been injured. Most of them were treated quickly and some have been hospitalized," state television quoted a local official as saying, adding that rescue workers were in the area.

The news agency 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.

(Writing by Zahra Hosseinian, Editing by Tim Pearce)