Huge explosion rocks military base near Tehran in Iran

* Blast at ammo store causes explosion felt for miles

* Official says "incident" happened while moving munitions
* Comes as tensions with Israel high over nuclear issue.

A massive explosion at a military arms depot near the Iranian capital Tehran killed 15 servicemen on Saturday and seriously wounded several others, in what officials were treating as an accident.
A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said the blast happened as troops were moving munitions at a base in Bidganeh, near the town of Shahriar.

Fifteen Iranian servicemen were killed and several others seriously wounded in an explosion on Saturday at a military base near Tehran that happened as troops were moving munitions, a Revolutionary Guards spokesman told state TV.

At least 15 people were killed and many more injured after two huge successive explosions hit a military base southwest of the Iranian capital of Tehran on Saturday, local media reported.
The blasts took place in an ammunition depot belonging to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the village of Bidganeh in the vicinity of Malard in the Northern Alborz province close to Tehran.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported that some members of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission had confirmed the blasts at the IRGC base, while the state TV quoted an IRGC official as saying that "some of those injured are in critical condition.
"My dear colleagues in the Revolutionary Guards were moving munitions in one of the arsenals at that base when, due to an incident, an explosion happened," Ramezan Sharif told news channel IRINN.
He  continue added  "Some of the casualties are reported to be in a critical condition,"
The blast was so big it was felt in western suburbs of Tehran, 45 km away, witnesses told Reuters. Many assumed there had been a low-level earthquake. Some media reports said the initial blast was followed by a second explosion.
There were no reports linking the blast to any air strike or other attack. Tension has risen in recent weeks between Iran and its enemies Israel and the United States, which have not ruled out striking nuclear facilities they believe are working towards making atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
On Oct. 12 last year a similar blast at a Revolutionary Guards munitions store killed and wounded several servicemen in Khoramabad, western Iran. Authorities said that explosion was an accident.