A reliable source from Congo Brazzaville has revealed that atleast 200 people are reported to have been killed. Hospital sources say the death toll is likely to rise.
“We count at least 150 dead in the military hospitals and around 1,500 injured, some of them seriously.”
An official in the president’s office quoted by foreign press put the death toll at about 200, citing hospital sources.
The four strong explosions were also heard several kilometers away across into neighbouring Kinshasa the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo.
Residents of east Brazzaville fled when the blasts began.
The cause of the explosions has not yet been established but sources say it has been an accident at a munitions dump.
A diplomatic source in Brazzaville said the blasts came from a munitions depot in the east of the city.
Dark thick smoke was seen rising from Kinshasa, which lies over the river from Brazzaville. The first explosion was heard around 8:00 am, a second one about 20 minutes later, followed by two others around 8:45 am.
Several other detonations, much weaker, have been heard since.
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