Iran arrests more than 100 people for suspected poisoning of schoolgirls

Iran has announced more than 100 arrests nationwide over the mystery poisonings of thousands of schoolgirls, charging that the unidentified alleged perpetrators may have links with 'hostile' groups, AFP reported on Sunday.

'More than 100 people with the aim of instilling terror in the people and students and to close schools were identified, arrested and investigated,' the ministry said in a statement on Saturday carried by state news agency IRNA.

The statement also pointed at possible links to MEK, an Albania-based exiled Iranian opposition group that Tehran considers a "terrorist" organisation.

In the wave of cases since late November, schoolgirls have suffered fainting, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms after reporting "unpleasant" odours on school premises, with some being treated in hospitals.

The ministry said arrests were made in the provinces of Tehran, Qom and Gilan in the north, Razavi Khorasan in the northeast, West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Zanjan in the northwest, Kurdistan and Hamadan in the west, Khuzestan in the southwest and Fars in the south.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had last Monday called for the perpetrators of the "unforgivable crime" to be tracked down "without mercy".