A homemade bomb exploded Saturday outside a crowded city park in the Maldives, wounding at least 12 people, all of them foreign tourists, a government official said, according to AP. Officials in the Indian Ocean archipelago, renowned for its exclusive tourist resorts, said they did not know who was behind the attack that hit the crowded Sultan Park in the capital, Male, about 3 p.m. «The Maldives has never had something like this before. We are taking this very seriously because tourism is our life blood,» government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said. The injured included two Britons, eight Chinese and two Japanese, all of whom suffered burn injuries, Shareef said. Maldives police did not immediately know how the bomb was detonated or where it was planted, Shareef said. He said it was too early to say whether the bomb targeted the tourism industry and the possible involvement of an Islamic Jihadist outfit, adding that all possibilities would be investigated. «They (the tourists) are still in a state of shock, and police have still not interviewed them,» Shareef said. Authorities will seek help from Interpol, the United States and India in investigating the blast, Shareef said. The opposition Minivan News reported on its Web site that witnesses said they saw nails, presumably from the bomb, scattered in the park, which is located near the country's army headquarters.
