TEHRAN, May 28: At least 20 people were killed when a strong earthquake struck northern Iran on Friday, sparking panic as far away as Tehran among people afraid of a repeat of the devastating tremor in Bam which killed tens of thousands.

The second severe quake to hit Iran in less than six months struck at about 5:00pm (13:30 GMT). Reports on its magnitude varied, but most said it measured at least 6.1 on the Richter scale.

Its epicentre was located in the Mazandaran province, 70km north of Tehran. An official said it caused major damage to at least 80 villages. A spokesman for the Mazandaran provincial government told the state-run IRNA news agency that at least 19 people were killed and some 150 others injured in the rural and mountainous area.

"Most people were killed on the road by landslides caused by the earthquake," spokesman Marzieh Obouri was quoted as saying. State television earlier reported the quake also shook several villages in Ghazvine province, killing two people and wounding four others.

Eighty villages in Ghazvine suffered damage, provincial Governor Massoud Emami told state television, adding: "There have been victims." Some 30 houses were also reported to have been destroyed, injuring eight residents, in the Mazandaran city of Kelardasht, while more injuries were reported near Chalous, also in Marzanabad.

State television later said there was an aftershock measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale. The quake caused panic in Tehran, where people ran into the streets in fear. Close to Baladeh town, a woman told AFP how "my car jumped across the road" as the earth shook beneath her. -AFP