A homemade explosive device went off outside an outdoor cafe in Belarussian city of Vitebsk on Thursday evening, injuring about 46 people, but killing nobody, the Itar-Tass news agency reported on Friday.

About 25 of those injured in the blast had been hospitalized and four of them were in intensive care, the report quoted city police as saying.

The explosion happened outside the Eridan cafe in central Vitebsk, a city cafe which was a temporary, partially open-air structure of the sort often set up to attract customers in the summer.

The cafe, in addition to offering food and drink, has a dance floor, the officer said.

An Interfax report said the explosive device was planted in a flower-bed outside the cafe.

It was the second such incident in the city in nine days. The previous blast occurred last week, injuring two people. The case was regarded as malicious hooliganism, the Itar-Tass said.

The scene of the blast has been sealed off by the local police investigating the case.

Source: Xinhua