Maldives blast wounds 12 tourists

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

COLOMBO (AFP) — A home-made bomb has ripped through a crowded park in the Maldivian capital Male on Saturday, wounding 12 foreign nationals, tourism minister Mahamood Shougee told AFP.

Two Britons, two Japanese and eight Chinese were wounded in the blast, in an area popular with holiday-makers, said Shougee.

"Only two Britons suffered extensive burns while the others had minor injuries," he told AFP by telephone, adding that the victims were in a stable condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the unprecedented attack on tourists in the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is south Asia's top luxury destination.

"We saw a lot of blood and some of the shrapnel from the bomb," a Maldivian journalist who was at the scene said by...