Germany explosion: Police and firefighters hurt in blast at high-rise block

Police officers and firefighters have been injured, some seriously, in an explosion in the western German town of Ratingen, police say.

Officers had responded to reports of a person in a vulnerable state in a flat.

Inside the flat they found a fire in one of the rooms and a man then used a device to set off an explosion, the regional interior minister said.

Heavily armed police stormed the flat and arrested a man aged 57, police said.

Herbert Reul, North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, told officials that a body had been found in the apartment.

Mr Reul said 10 firefighters and two police officers had been injured.

A police spokeswoman told reporters that some of those hurt were in a potentially life-threatening condition.

The incident led to a major police operation in the town north-east of Düsseldorf

Journalists at the scene reported seeing police snipers take up positions on the roofs of neighbouring blocks.

Footage showed smoke coming from the high-rise apartment block…

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This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk