7 KILLED, DOZENS HURT AS BLAST RIPS BUILDING IN BANGLADESH CAPITAL

At least nine people were killed and dozens of others wounded after an explosion ripped through a multi-storey building in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka over the weekend, police and firefighters said, Nazrul Islam reported for Deustche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

The explosion occurred at a four-storey building that housed many shops, showrooms, and private offices in Dhaka's downtown Moghbazar area, firefighter Faysalur Rahman said.

The blast damaged at least three city buses carrying passengers stuck in traffic congestion in front of the building and other establishments around it, he said.

Many bystanders and bus passengers sustained injuries as their windshields and glass doors were smashed, Rahman said, adding that the cause of the blast, which triggered a fire at the building, could not be ascertained immediately.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police chief Shafiqul Islam told reporters at the site that at least nine people had been killed in the accident.

Accumulated cooking gas at a restaurant housed at the building might have caused the explosion, Islam said, adding there was no evidence to suggest it was an act of sabotage.

The explosion caused damage to seven more adjoining buildings, he said. Chief of Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense department Sazzad Hossain also suspected gas accumulation as the cause of the blast.

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