Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday made his first public appearance since the outbreak of his country's recent 12-day war with Israel, taking part in a religious ceremony here, state media reported.

The octogenarian leader was shown in a video broadcast by state television greeting people and being cheered at a mosque as worshippers marked the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, an important date for Syiah Muslims.

Khamenei, 86, can be seen on stage dressed in black as the crowd before him, fists in the air, chants "The blood in our veins for our leader!"

State TV said the clip was filmed at central Tehran's Imam Khomeini Mosque, named for the founder of the Islamic republic.

Khamenei, in power since 1989, spoke last week in a pre-recorded video, but had not been seen in public since before Israel initiated the conflict with a wave of surprise air strikes on June 13.

His last public appearance was two days before that, when he met with members of parliament.

Israel's bombing campaign followed a decades-long shadow war with Iran, and was aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

The strikes killed more than 900 people in Iran, its judiciary has said, while retaliatory Iranian missile barrages aimed at Israeli cities killed at least 28 people there, according to official figures.

At least 34 people, including two babies were killed when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames in southern Benin near the border with Nigeria on Saturday.

According to Beninese Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, “a serious fire occurred in the town of Seme Podji. Another 20 people were seriously wounded in the incident.”

"I can't really give you the cause of the fire, but there is a large gasoline warehouse here and cars, tricycles and motorcycles come from morning to evening,” he added.

Nigeria is a main oil and gas producer where fuel smuggling is very common along its borders, particularly when the government maintains a subsidy to keep fuel prices low.

The majority of the victims were burnt and they could not be not be identified.

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