Boy killed, 9 injured in bomb blast in eastern India

KOLKATA, India – Authorities say a 7-year-old boy has been killed and nine other people wounded in a bomb blast in suburban Kolkata in India’s eastern West Bengal state.

Barrackpore Police Commissioner Rajesh Kumar Singh says an investigation is underway into Tuesday morning’s blast outside a shop closed on the national Mahatma Gandhi birthday holiday. The impact of the blast ripped through the shop’s iron shutters. Ten people standing outside the shop were injured by debris and taken to a hospital, where the boy died.

Local Trinamul Congress Leader Panchu Gopal Roy says he was the target of the explosion.

In late August, nine people were killed in clashes in the state triggered by opposition parties contesting the victory of the ruling Trinamool Congress in recent local municipal elections.