Quake kills two near Iran Shi`ite holy city Mashhad

Tehran: At least two people died when an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck near Iran`s Shi`ite Muslim holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, local media reported. 

The quake struck at 10:39 am (0609 GMT) around 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Iran`s second city in an area called Sepidsang. 

Two people have been reported dead and four injured, local officials told state television, with four villages said to have been badly damaged. 

Rescue teams have been sent to affected areas, where some 20 aftershocks have been reported. 

"It was horrible. It made a lot of noise. Everything was shaking," a Mashhad resident told AFP by phone. 

Iran lies on a major fault line and sees frequent earthquakes. The most recent was in January, when four people died in southern Iran.

A 2003 quake killed at least 31,000 people and all but destroyed the historic city of Bam in the southeast of the country.