5 dead, dozens injured in blast at Belarus metro station

Explosion occurs in capital of Minsk as train enters station; unknown number of injured; no indication of what caused blast.

By REUTERS
Minsk explosion 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Minsk explosion 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
MINSK - At least five people were killed and dozens were wounded in blast that hit a metro station in the center of the Belarussian capital Minsk on Monday, a police source told Reuters.
The state news agency BelTA said the blast occurred at 5.55 p.m. (1455 GMT) at the metro station Oktyabrskaya on a square of the same name about 100 meters (yards) from the administration building of President Alexander Lukashenko.
There was no indication of what caused the explosion.
Asked by a Reuters correspondent if there were dead, a police spokesman said: "Yes, there are. We don't yet know the exact number."
A 52-year-old man said a train was coming into the station when the blast occurred on the platform.
"The doors (of the train) opened and then there was an explosion," said the man who gave his name only as Igor. "I saw people lying on the floor without moving. There was a lot of blood."
Reuters correspondent Andrei Makhovsky went to the scene and saw one dead person lying outside the station covered in sheeting.
Interfax news agency, reporting from Minsk, quoted an eyewitness as saying he had seen two dead bodies. The agency quoted an ambulance service spokesman as saying "very many" people had been injured.
First-aid workers were helping injured people at the scene, BelTA said.