TEHRAN - Eighteen people were killed on Wednesday when a bomb exploded next to a bus owned by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in southeast Iran, where security forces and armed groups often clash, Iran's IRNA news agency said.

Other news agencies put the death toll lower and an official in the governor's office in the city of Zahedan, where the bombing occurred, said the exact number killed was not yet clear.

The bomb was hidden in a car and exploded as the bus, belonging to a unit that transports employees of the Guards, passed by, IRNA reported. It was not clear if those killed were members of the Guards.

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"In this act 18 Zahedan citizens have been martyred. Rebels and those who create insecurity martyred these people in a terrorist act by laying a trap close to a bus," Qassim Rezai, a military commander, was quoted as saying by IRNA.

Iran's student news agency ISNA said 17 to 18 people had been killed and injured in the incident that happened around 6.30 A.M. local time. The semi-official Fars News Agency cited eight dead, the same number cited by IRNA in its initial report.

A spokesman in the Zahedan governor's office confirmed the incident but said he was still waiting for figures on the number killed. "Two people have been arrested," he told Reuters, without giving further details.

Four people were in the car which appeared to be broken down on the road, Fars said. When the bus approached, the four fled on motorbikes parked nearby and the car exploded. One of those detained had a video camera and another had explosives, it said.

Zahedan is close to the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are often clashes in the area between security forces and armed groups involved in the drugs trade and smuggling.