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Agencies

At least 20 people have been killed and 600 injured after a series of powerful explosions hit a military camp in Equatorial Guinea, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema said, pointing the finger at “negligent” soldiers for the blast.
The TVGE channel broadcast footage of wrecked and burning buildings after the four explosions ravaged the Nkoa Ntoma camp in the economic capital Bata and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
People – including children – were seen being pulled from the rubble and the wounded lying on a hospital floor, while a column of thick black smoke rose from the military site.

The Health Ministry made a call for blood donors and volunteer health workers to go to the Regional Hospital de Bata, one of three hospitals treating the wounded.
The ministry said its health workers were treating the injured at the site of the tragedy and in medical facilities, but feared people were still missing under the rubble.
The explosions were caused by “an accident due to the negligence of the unit in charge of storing explosives, dynamite and ammunition”, Obiang Nguema said in a statement read on state television.


His jet-setter son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, vice-president with responsibility for defence and security, appeared in the television footage at the scene of the blasts inspecting the damage, accompanied by his Israeli bodyguards.
Teodorin, as he is known, is increasingly seen as the president’s designated successor.
The camp, where the first explosion struck in the early afternoon, houses among others elements of the army’s special forces and the paramilitary gendarmerie, according to a journalist with TVGE.
Spain, the former colonial power in Equatorial Guinea, urged its citizens via its Malabo embassy to stay at home following the explosions.

Bata is the largest city in the oil- and gas-rich central African nation, with around 800,000 of the nation’s 1.4 million population living there – most of them in poverty.
While it sits on the mainland, the capital Malabo is on Bioko, one of the country’s islands off the west African coast.
Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by 78-year-old Obiang Nguema for nearly 42 years.
In December last year the UN’s top court found in favour of France in a bitter battle over a swanky Paris property seized in a corruption investigation into his son Teodorin.
Opposition figures and international organisations regularly accuse Obiang Nguema of committing human rights abuses.

The authoritarian leader has seen off at least half a dozen assassination or coup attempts to become Africa’s longest-serving leader.
Malabo claimed to have foiled a coup plot in December 2017 for which 130 people were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 96 years, half of them in absentia.
They included five French nationals as well as citizens of Chad, the Central African Republic and Cameroon.
Associated Press, Agence France-Presse


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Diplomacy

Dynamite explosions kill 20, injure 600 in Equatorial Guinea military camp

Rescuers pull a child out of rubble following explosions at a military base in Bata, Equatorial Guinea on Sunday. Photo: TVGE / Reuters

Smoke rises from destroyed structures following explosions at a military base, according to local media, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea March 7, 2021. TVGE/REUTERS TV/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. EQUATORIAL GUINEA OUT.

SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB People receive aid at a hospital, following explosions at a military base, according to local media, in Bata, Equatorial Guinea March 7, 2021. TVGE/REUTERS TV/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. EQUATORIAL GUINEA OUT.

This TVGE image made from video shows smoke rising over the blast site at a military barracks in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, Sunday, March 7, 2021. A series of explosions killed at least 20 people and wounded more than 600 others on Sunday, authorities said. (TVGE via AP)

At least three people dead after explosion brings down building in central Madrid

A police officer attends the scene after an explosion destroyed a building in Madrid on Wednesday.

A building belonging to the Catholic Church burns after a deadly explosion, in Madrid downtown, Spain, January 20, 2021. REUTERS/Susana Vera

Nine killed and a dozen wounded in Kabul car bomb attack targeting Afghan MP

Damaged cars at the site of an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. Photo: AFP

epa08863616 A handout photo made available by the Afghan President's office shows Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, during a meeting of HCNR in Kabul, Afghanistan, 05 December 2020. The Afghan government and Taliban negotiators announced on 02 December, that they have reached a deal to move forward with bilateral peace talks, a major breakthrough after months of negotiations in Doha.The agreement allows the negotiators to work on the agenda and rules for talks and take critical issues up for discussions. EPA-EFE/AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL PALACE HANDOUT HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

FILE PHOTO: Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. envoy for peace in Afghanistan is seen during talks between the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents in Doha, Qatar September 12, 2020. REUTERS/Ibraheem al Omari/File Photo

Rescuers seek missing person after early morning explosion rocks Bordeaux, France

A destroyed building in Bordeaux, France, where a large explosion in a garage destroyed the building as well as two neighbouring ones, killing at least one person. Photo: AFP

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World

Africa


Series of large explosions at military base result of negligence related to the use of dynamite, president says
In immediate aftermath, people ran in all directions, many of them dazed and screaming



President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has pointed the finger at ‘negligent’ soldiers for the blast at military barracks.


France

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