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Blast kills 10 in south Yemen town

02 March 2010 13:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ibad Baghirov â€“APA. Ten people, including two children, were killed and 15 others wounded in a pre-dawn explosion in a residential area of the southern Yemeni town of Taiz on Tuesday, the defence ministry said, APA reports.
The blast struck at 5 am (0200 GMT) in a building where fireworks and carbon products were stored, said the ministry’s news website, 26sep.net, citing a security source.
The blast destroyed the building, caused a nearby building to collapse and damaged a third, the website said.
Apart from the two children, six women and two men were killed in the explosion, it said, adding that two of the wounded were treated and discharged form a local hospital.
Rescue workers were trying to find survivors in the rubble.
Earlier, a medical source told AFP that dynamite, not fireworks, had destroyed the building, which housed six flats, and that 12 people were killed and an unspecified number wounded.
Yemen is facing economic and political crises, including over 30 per cent unemployment, an ongoing fight against Al-Qaeda militants and frequent separatist demonstrations in the south.