47 children among 378 killed in Iran crackdown

Iranian security forces have killed at least 378 people -- including 47 children -- in a crackdown on protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, a rights group said in an updated toll yesterday.

The Islamic republic has been gripped by protests that erupted over Amini's death on September 16, three days after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

The protests were fanned by fury over the dress rules for women, but have grown into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.

"At least 378 protesters, including 47 children, have been killed by the oppressive forces since September 16," Iran Human Rights director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP.

The figure represents an increase of 36 since the Norway-based group issued its previous toll on Wednesday.

Iran Human Rights warned that the regime had been mounting a "campaign of spreading lies" ahead of a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council next week.

"They have two goals by attributing the killing of the protesters to terrorist groups like Daesh," Amiry-Moghaddam said, referring to the Islamic State group.

"They want to use it as an excuse for more widespread use of live ammunition," he told AFP.

His comments came as Iran yesterday criticised the "silence" of the international community in the face of acts of violence in the country during protests.

"It is the duty of the international community to condemn the recent terrorist acts in Iran and not to provide a safe haven for extremists," Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement.

On Wednesday, 10 people including a woman, two children and a security officer were killed in two separate attacks.

Two members of Iran's pro-government Basij paramilitary force were stabbed to death in the northeastern city of Mashhad while trying to intervene against "rioters", according to state news agency IRNA.