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Explosion in Nashville may have been ‘intentional act’: Police - Al Jazeera English

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Authorities say an investigation is under way after the explosion believed to be linked to a vehicle rocks downtown Nashville, US.

An explosion in the United States city of Nashville on Christmas morning may have been an “intentional act”, local police said, as images showed billowing smoke, debris and emergency crews at the site.

The Metro Nashville Police Department said on Friday morning that the explosion occurred about 6:30am local time (12:30 GMT) in the city’s downtown area and was linked to a vehicle.

“This appears to have been an intentional act. Law enforcement is closing downtown streets as investigation continues,” police tweeted, alongside a photo showing felled tree branches, smoke and debris on a street.

The authorities did not immediately say what the motive of the explosion could be.

Federal and local police are expected to provide updates later on Friday.

Fire officials reported taking three people to hospital but none of them was critically hurt.

The area where the explosion occurred is packed with bars, restaurants and other retail stores. It is known as the heart of the tourist scene in downtown Nashville, the capital of the state of Tennessee and the legendary home of country music in the US.

Buildings shook in the area as a loud boom was heard.

Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, said the windows of his home were blown out.

Smoke billows from the site of an explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 25 [Andrew Nelles/Tennessean.com/USA Today Network via Reuters].
“All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there it would have been horrible,” he told The Associated Press news agency.

“It felt like a bomb. It was that big,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said police were called about a suspicious recreational vehicle that did not have any number plates. Police went to the scene and alerted the bomb squad to investigate.

“While further reinforcements were on their way, there was this explosion,” Rattansi said.

Debris litters the road near the site of the explosion in downtown Nashville [Andrew Nelles/Tennessean.com/USA Today Network via Reuters]
He added that people miles away from the site said they felt the explosion and that at least 20 buildings have been damaged.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee tweeted, “Federal, state and local law enforcement partners are on the scene to investigate what we believe was an intentional act.”

“We will supply all of the resources needed to determine what happened and who was responsible,” he said.

A spokesman for Donald Trump said the US president has been briefed on the explosion and would continue to receive regular updates.

“The president is grateful for the incredible first responders and praying for those who were injured,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Judd Deere said, as reported by the White House press pool.

Meanwhile, Nashville Mayor John Cooper said officials are waiting for the investigation to unfold.

“It will take a little bit of time to get to the bottom of it,” he told local reporters on Friday morning.

“I do think it was clearly done when nobody was going to be around,” Cooper said, adding that he would wait for investigators’ probe before speculating on why that may be.

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Explosion in Nashville may have been ‘intentional act’: Police - Al Jazeera English
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