Three demonstrators have been killed during clashes with Iranian security forces in the western town of Mahabad, state media has reported. The protesters reportedly targeted government buildings after attending the memorial ceremony of a man killed during unrest in the country.
Security forces also reportedly opened fire at a cemetery near Khorramabad. Rights group Amnesty International says security forces have killed eight people since Wednesday.
Unrest has rocked the country since Mahsa Amini died in police custody 40 days ago after allegedly wearing her Islamic headscarf "improperly".
Officials in Mahabad accused "terrorist-separatist groups" of inducing demonstrators to attack government facilities in the town, and accused protesters of attacking "political and security centres with the aim to occupy them". State media has not identified the victims, but the opposition outlet Hengaw reported that a man and two women had died after being shot by security forces. The BBC cannot independently verify these allegations.
Several hundred people had reportedly gathered around the municipal governor's offices in the largely ethnically Kurdish town, but state media insisted police had the situation under control, and denied reports that the city had "fallen" to unrest. Meanwhile, in Khorramabad - also in western Iran - demonstrators had gathered at the cemetery to mourn Nika Shakarami, who disappeared soon after Ms Amini's death and became another symbol of the protest movement.
Videos from Khorramabad showed protesters chanting anti-state slogans including "down with the dictator", a reference to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.
Security forces opened fire on the protesters, a source close to her family told BBC Persian.
On Wednesday night, tens of thousands of people had taken to the streets in major cities, as well as other places where demonstrations had subsided recently.
It is the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since its inception.
