Tehran: Iranian state television reported on Wednesday that a prisoner on leave has gunned down five people in a rampage in the central Iranian city of Arak.

The report said four others were injured in Wednesday’s shooting.

The prisoner was not identified but was reportedly in prison on drug charges. The report said he and his brother attacked two families in two different parts of the city, apparently in an act of revenge.

According to the report, police detained one of the two and the second man is at large.

Gun violence is rare in Iran, where citizens are only allowed to own hunting rifles. However earlier in December, a man killed 10 relatives in a remote rural area in the country’s south.