An explosion ripped through the second floor of a department store in the Yemeni port city of Aden wounding two people, police sources and witnesses told AFP on Monday.
The blast happened on Sunday in the Malla district, near the port, as Muslims left a neighbouring mosque after afternoon prayers.
Security personnel at the scene said two people were hurt.
Medical sources at Aden general hospital said the injuries were caused by flying glass and were not serious.
The cause of the explosion was not known but police sources said a criminal investigation had been launched.
"It was like an earthquake in my living room," said a university student who lives close by.
"I went outside and saw the building on fire, and the building's structural columns are all that remain of the second floor," he said, asking not to be named.
The street outside was littered with smashed goods and glass from the store front and neighbouring buildings. The second floor housed foodstuffs, clothing and home appliances.
Explosions are frequent in Yemen and are often linked to the aftermath of the unification of the former North and South Yemen in 1990 and a failed southern secession bid in the 1994 civil war.
Two bombs rocked Aden in mid-October but caused no injuries.
Last January 1, a bomb partially destroyed an outside wall of Aden's Anglican church, while a shell fired at a hotel missed its target and fell into the sea.
The following day, a bomb exploded near the Aden office of the official SABA news agency, causing a four-metre (yard) diameter hole.
On October 12, 2000, a suicide attack against the US destroyer Cole killed 17 American sailors in Aden bay. Washington has blamed chief terror suspect Osama bin Laden -- Aden (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
