At least 66 people have been killed and 980 injured by several earthquakes in western Iran, officials said.

The quakes, with magnitudes of up to 6.0, centred on remote villages between the industrial towns of Doroud and Boroujerd in the province of Lorestan.

About 330 villages have been damaged - some completely flattened, Lorestan's disaster control committee chief said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for aid to be rushed to the victims, and prayed for the injured.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the US was prepared to offer humanitarian assistance to Iran.

Lorestan's governor said hospitals were full to capacity and he called for assistance from surrounding areas.

Ali Barani, head of Lorestan's disaster control committee, told Reuters news agency the number of casualties was not expected to rise significantly because initial tremors on Thursday night had provided a warning to residents.

The first tremors, with magnitudes of 4.7 and 5.1, hit at about 0105 on Friday (2135 GMT on Thursday), the official Irna news agency reported.

Many villagers fled their houses in fear and set up tents outside for the night.

Telephone lines, electricity and gas supplies had been cut in some areas, Doroud's governor told Irna.

Iranian television pictures on Friday showed images of flattened houses, with residents scrabbling through rubble with their bare hands.

We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told the Associated Press news agency by telephone.

There were also reports of quakes in the cities of Arak and Shazand in the central Markazi province, but no casualties or damage were reported.

In a message issued after the earthquakes, the president said the nation was "deeply moved by the killer quakes in the cities of Doroud and Boroujerd which took the lives of many civilians".

"It is imperative to mobilise all the existing facilities to assist the injured civilians and address their needs immediately," he said.