TEHRAN: A moderate earthquake jolted a small town in western Iran near the Iraqi border on Thursday, injuring eight people and damaging buildings, Iranian media reported.

The magnitude 5.5 quake hit the sparsely populated area near the town of Mourmouri, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) southwest of the capital Tehran, at 2:39 p.m., said the semiofficial Mehr news agency.

The report said the quake sent people rushing out of their homes in Mourmouri and that scores of buildings were damaged in nearby towns of Abdanan and Dehloran.

The area has experienced dozens of moderate earthquakes over the past few weeks.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, experiencing at least one slight quake a day on average.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam.