A bombing at a nightclub in Peru has injured 33 people, including minors, authorities said on Saturday.
The explosion happened early at the Dali nightclub in the province of Trujillo along the northern coast, the local emergency operations center said.
It is a region that has been plagued by violence and crime.
Photo: Provincial Municipality of Trujillo via AFP
It was not immediately clear who was responsible and a motive was not immediately known.
At least five of the injured were in serious condition, Trujillo Health Network executive director Gerardo Florian Gomez said.
Some of the victims suffered amputations and shrapnel wounds, and were undergoing surgery, he told reporters.
Among the injured are three minors: a 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds, Florian said.
Fiorella Mantilla, who was at the nightclub when the blast took place, told reporters that she had glass embedded in her legs and recalled that “it sounded as if the sound system had suddenly been turned off.”
The explosion occurred during a show by a Peruvian musical group and sent revelers running for safety.
Members of the Amor Rebelde group were unhurt after what they said were “unfortunate events” that occurred at the nightclub where they performed, the group said in a statement on Facebook.
Video shared on a Peruvian news program showed scenes of chaos after a loud boom was heard.
The explosion took place less than a month after another blast in the same city damaged 25 homes, but caused no injuries or fatalities.
Extortion and illegal mining plague the La Libertad region, whose Andean portion is home to the largest gold-producing area in Peru. The region last year experienced 286 explosions, 136 of which occurred in the city of Trujillo, official figures showed.
In January last year, an explosive device was detonated in a prosecutor’s office building in Trujillo, while in August and September, two explosions damaged dozens of homes and left more than 20 people injured.
Authorities have said that such incidents are linked to an extortion scheme run by organized criminal gangs, including Los Pulpos, which has extended its criminal activities to Chile and other countries in the region.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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