UAE: Restaurants hit with explosions in Abu Dhabi & Dubai, three killed

At least three people were killed and several others were reported injured after two separate explosions rocked United Arab Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi and its tourism hub Dubai on August 31, the police and local media said. According to the National Daily, a massive explosion hit KFC and Hardees restaurants in Abu Dhabi’s Rashid bin Saeed Street. In Dubai, one person was killed after a gas cylinder exploded at a local restaurant earlier in the day.

Elaborating on the incident that sent out fumes of white smoke in the capital, police said that the blast has also caused several minor and moderate injuries. They added that residents of the building and surrounding areas were evacuated. Meanwhile, the media office of the Abu Dhabi government said the blast was caused by a "misalignment in the gas container fittings following refuelling". 

Doused in 33 minutes 

Meanwhile, the blast in Dubai was controlled within half an hour. As per a Dubai Civil defence spokesperson, the blast in Dubai had caused a blaze that damaged the ground floor of the building. However, the fire was controlled within 33 minutes, he added.

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This comes as Israeli, US officials are expected to arrive in UAE on a historic trip to finalise a historic accord. Experts are now speculating if the attack was aimed at them. Earlier on August 31, the first historic commercial flight between Israel and the UAE left for Abu Dhabi from the Ben-Gurion airport here, days after the normalisation of relations between the two countries under US mediation. The flight is carrying a high-level Israeli delegation led by National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat and a US delegation headed by US President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. 

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(Representative image: PTI)