Explosion in southern town in Sweden injures 25, cause unclear

STOCKHOLM (Reuters): A powerful explosion in the southern Swedish town of Linkoping on Friday damaged buildings and lightly injured 25 people, police said.

The cause of the explosion was unclear but police said a bomb squad was on its way to the scene in downtown Linkoping and that they had opened a criminal investigation.

“There is nothing that indicates that this incident is terror-related, we do not see that,” police spokeswoman Asa Willsund.

“We think that it occurred was outside,” Willsund said of the explosion. “We estimate that there are 25 people with minor injuries – no serious injuries or deaths.”

Swedish public radio reported that a large blast had destroyed the windows and balconies of a five-story residential building and damaged other neighboring buildings.

“Many people called in about a very powerful explosion which has led to a large number of windows being blown out,” police spokesman Bjorn Oberg said.

“So far we have been able to confirm that there are number of people with light injuries. We have cordoned off a large area, several blocks.”

Pontus Johansson, a 21-year-old engineer who lives in a building nearby, said he was in the shower when he heard a loud bang.

“First I didn’t think it was anything bad, then I saw the neighbor’s window was broken so I left our apartment and saw the chaos outside,” he told Reuters.