By TONY FRASER
Associated Press Writer
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — (AP) — A bomb exploded in a trash bin in downtown
Port-of-Spain on Monday, wounding 14 people, police said.
The commercial district was evacuated and the area checked for additional bombs, but none were located, Deputy Police Commissioner Glen Roach said.
“We have no idea of the kind of device used nor who is behind it,” Roach said.
Lennox Alfred, chief fire officer for Trinidad, said the 14 injured included a
26-year-old street vendor and a woman passer-by who were in critical condition.
Police and soldiers with automatic rifles swarmed the downtown after the explosion as rescuers aided the victims.
Local media reported that a man was seen placing a package in the garbage bin shortly before the explosion around 2 p.m. on the corner of Frederick and Queen streets, a major intersection in the capital city of the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The site of the blast is two blocks from the national Parliament, which was meeting at the time.
Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning called the incident a “dastardly act,” and said he directed the national security minister and police to use all resources to catch those responsible.
Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown called for extra security precautions. “It is something I think we will all be concerned about and I am sure the security forces have already started putting things in place,” he said in a radio interview.
The former British colony of 1.3 million people, located off the northern coast of South America, is the most prosperous member of the 15-member Caribbean Community, thanks to its petroleum and natural gas deposits. In recent years, it has become the leading supplier of liquid natural gas to the United States, supplying 75 percent of imports last year.
