4.4 quake rattles Iran near its nuclear power plant

Iran says a magnitude-4.4 earthquake has jolted a sparsely populated district some 110 kilometers northwest of Bushehr, home to the Republic's only operational nuclear power plant. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Iran's official IRNA news agency says the epicenter of the quake was the town of Emam Hassan and that it struck around 4.30 am Monday (0000 GMT, 8 pm EDT).

The Bushehr nuclear power plant, which went online in 2011 with Russian help, is built to withstand earthquakes of magnitude 8.

In 2013, a magnitude-6.1 temblor killed at least 37 people in an area of the same province where Monday's quake struck.

Iran experiences frequent earthquakes. In 2003, a magnitude-6.6 earthquake killed some 26,000 and flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.

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