Baghdad  - Iran has bombed Kurdish rebel positions in villages along the Iraq-Iran border on Thursday, a senior Iraqi official has said.

"Heavy shelling began at midnight and continued for an hour," the director of Sulaymanyah Zarawa district, Ezad Wasso, told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

The bombing targeted the areas of Razka, Mardo, Shanawa, and Arka, some 15 kilometres from the Iraq-Iran border, Wasso explained, adding that no casualties were reported.

Washington, Oct 8: Even though the Bush administration was “not interested” (in its help), after the 9/11 air attacks, Iran had provided it with key assistance in identifying hundreds of Arabs to counter terrorist organization Al Qaeda, by sending copies of passports of around 300 passports, revealed a former US administration official.

With the objective of having a broader relationship with the US, Iran also denied sanctuary to suspected al Qaeda operatives, added the former US official.

On the basis of the copies of passports, the US investigators interrogated these Arab nationals and even expelled many.

Karlsruhe, Germany  - Ger

Budapest - A plane carrying four Hungarian soldiers on its way to the Afghan capital Kabul was forced to land in Iran, the Hungarian Defence Ministry said late Tuesday, clearing up confusion about the aircraft, which Iranian media had claimed was from the US.

The plane was forced to land for bureaucratic reasons, the ministry said.

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday said that Iran would react favourably to positive signals by political arch-foe United States.

"Our stance remains the same: we would react favourably to any positive signals (by the US) indicating the will for communication on the basis of respect and justice," Ahmadinejad told state-television in an interview.

Tehran - The Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday opened the Milad Tower which is said to be the world's fourth highest building for telecommunications.

Only the telecommunication towers of Toronto (553.3 metres), Moscow (533.3 metres) and Shanghai (500 metres) are higher than the Milad Tower in western Tehran with a height of 435 metres, media reports in Iran said.

The tower, owned by the Tehran municipality, is also supposed to serve as a commercial and entertainment centre.