Three people killed and several hurt in two UAE restaurant blasts
Three people were killed and several people injured on Monday in two separate explosions in the United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi and its tourism hub Dubai, police and local media said.
A gas cylinder exploded at branches of fast food chains KFC and Hardees early on Monday killing two people, one near the blast and another bystander who was hit by debris, the Abu Dhabi media office said.
Abu Dhabi-owned the National newspaper reported that debris was flung as far as a kilometre from the blast.
Photos published on social and local media showed extensive damage to the two restaurants, with a white plume of smoke rising from the ground floor of the building.
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Other shops on the city's Rashid bin Saeed Street were also damaged and Abu Dhabi police said residents of the building and surrounding areas had been evacuated.
Another person was killed in a similar blast caused by a gas cylinder at a restaurant in Dubai which caused a blaze that damaged the ground floor of the building, according to a Dubai civil defence spokesperson quoted by the National.
The fire had been controlled in just over 30 minutes, it added.
Abu Dhabi's Rashid bin Saeed Street is also known as the airport road, where top aides to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed on Monday, in a historic trip between Israel and another Arab country.
The Abu Dhabi government told residents "to avoid spreading rumours" about the blasts and "use official news sources".
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