Quake in Ardebil

An earthquake measuring 4 degrees on the Richter scale jolted the outskirts of Bileh Savar County in Ardebil Province, early Wednesday. According to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the tremor occurred 162 km from Ardebil city at 1:57 am local time and was registered at a depth of 28 km, IRNA reported. There were no reports of possible damages or casualties. Iran sits astride several major seismic faults, and is prone to frequent earthquakes, many of which have been devastating. The worst in recent times hit Bam in Kerman Province in December 2003, killing 26,000 people - about a quarter of its population.