27 Guards killed in Iran military base blast

A massive explosion at a Revolutionary Guards base just west of the Iranian capital yesterday killed 27 members of the elite force, officials said.
An emergency official, Majid Khaled, quoted by the Mehr news agency, said 23 people were injured in the blast and taken to nearby hospitals.
The explosion shortly after 1:00pm hit an ammunition depot at the base in Bid Ganeh, near the town of Malard on the western outskirts of Tehran, some 20 kilometres from the city centre, according to media reports.
It shattered the windows of residential neighbourhoods in the western suburbs of Tehran, witnesses told AFP. It was heard in the city centre.
"Initial investigations show the blast occurred as ammunition was being moved," Sharif said earlier.
The deputy head of the national security commission, Esmaeel Kosari, said parliament would open a probe into the blast, the ISNA news agency reported.
Hossein Garousi, a lawmaker, said the blast had destroyed "a large part of the ammunition depot."