'50 injured' in Qatar bomb blast
19/03/2005 - 20:36:24More than 50 people were taken to hospital tonight after a blast tore through a theatre with about 100 Westerners in the audience in Doha, capital of Qatar at the southern end of the Persian Gulf.
It happened during a performance at the theatre, a hospital worker and a United States military official said.
The cause of the blast at the Doha Players Theatre was not known.
The BBC, citing the British Embassy in Qatar, reported that the blast might have been a gas explosion.
“I saw people lying on the ground. I think they were in shock because of the explosion. They were mostly foreigners,” witness Ahmed Goudah said from the scene.
US Army Captain Eric Clark said he spoke with a woman who was performing in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night when a blast shook the hall at about 6.15pm Irish Time (9.15pm local time).
“She heard a massive explosion and there was mass chaos and people just exited the building,” Clark said by telephone.
More than 50 people were taken to Hamad Hospital, a hospital official said.
General Ahmed Al-Hariki, of the Interior Ministry, said six people were injured, including Arabs and foreigners with medium injuries.
He told Al-Jazeera television that the blast occurred at a restaurant inside the theatre and was not close to an embassy or consulate.
He did not discuss a possible cause of the explosion.
“We should postpone answering that question until we find out,” he said.
Goudah said dozens of cars were smashed with shattered windows. Some were engulfed in flames.
Firefighters and emergency vehicles converged on the area, which was sealed off by police.
He said ambulances were seen carrying the injured and transferring them to hospital.
The theatre is located in Farek Kelab, a northern suburb of the capital.
A British school and the US Embassy are in the same area, Clark and others said.
US Embassy spokeswoman Patricia Kabra said the blast was ”not that far away from the embassy” but she was not sure of the exact location.
The US military base lies almost 12 miles from the scene.
Clark had no word on casualties or what caused the blast.
A spokesman for Britain’s Foreign Office said embassy staff were on their way to the scene. He had no word on casualties.
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