TEHRAN, Aug 4 (AFP) - 13h46 - Fresh clashes erupted in Iran's northwest Kurdish region on Wednesday as rioters ravaged public buildings amid unconfirmed reports that several people had been killed.The Iranian judiciary also closed down two Kurdish newspapers.

"Disturbances took place in Saghez," some 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Tehran, a Kurdish official told AFP on Thursday.

"According to my information public buildings and stores were attacked," he said, adding he was not aware of any casualties.

However, the conservative Internet site Baztab reported that a ceremonial gathering place for religious Shiites had been torched and "several people were wounded or killed."

A security official quoted by Iran's official news agency IRNA said "rioters attacked and damaged public buildings, banks and stores."

But he added that security forces had restored calm to the area.

The conservative daily Joumhouri Eslami said the perpetrators were "a group called the Organisation of Fighting Students that attacked stores, banks and official buildings.

"They threw rocks and other objects at banks and even attacked the Saghez prefecture," it said.

"Security forces fired on them when two troublemakers tried to take soldiers' weapons," the newspaper said.

The judiciary in the nearby city of Sanandaj closed down two Kurdish newspapers. The daily Achti and the weekly Assou were forbidden from operating, the student-run news agency ISNA said.

Iran's population is 90 percent Shiite, whereas Kurds are mainly Sunni Muslims and make up about seven percent of the Islamic republic's population.

Kurdish regions in Iran have seen unrest and agitation in recent months.

Following the inauguration of former rebel leader Massoud Barzani in June as the first president of neighbouring Iraqi Kurdistan, hundreds of jubilant Kurdish demonstrators clashed with police on the streets.

In July, a young Kurdish man who was wanted by police was shot and killed during his arrest in the Kurdish stronghold of Mahabad.

Subsequent clashes between residents and police killed one policeman and resulted in dozens of arrests.