Bangladesh: Explosion Kills 17 in Crowded Market in Nation's Capital

(Photo : Photo by REHMAN ASAD/AFP via Getty Images)
At least 17 people have been killed and more than 100 have been injured following an explosion inside an office building in a busy business sector in the capital of Bangladesh.

A blast that rocked the busy market area of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Tuesday killed at least 17 people and injured several others, according to local authorities.

The official further said that the explosion had happened inside the seven-story structure in Dhaka market, inflicting significant damage to two levels.

According to Reuters, fire officer Dinomoni Sharma described multiple stores selling sanitary equipment and domestic products and a bus parked on the other side of the building that was destroyed in the Bangladesh explosion. Scene images revealed severe destruction to the structure and neighboring properties, with store merchandise strewn over the street. Broken glass and falling debris injured a few passers-by.

Investigation On-Going

The chief of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Khandker Golam Faruq, has said that the explosion in the Gulistan neighborhood was likely an accident and not a deliberate act of sabotage.

"Primarily, we are suspecting that it is an accident," the police official said, noting that law enforcement agencies had already started investigating the Dhaka market explosion, WION reported.

"So far, no evidence of sabotage was found at the spot till now," Faruq told journalists at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Al Jazeera reported that a representative for the fire department told AFP that no fire had broken out in the structure but that more than 150 firemen had arrived to help with rescue operations.

The Bangladesh market explosion happened after a gas explosion in Dhaka on Sunday that claimed the lives of three individuals. On Saturday, seven deaths occurred, and others were wounded when an oxygen factory in southern Bangladesh exploded.