Four killed in blast at scrap dealer’s shop in Mathura

LUCKNOW - At least four people were killed and several injured in an explosion at a scrap dealer’s shop in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district Wednesday, police said ruling out any terror angle to the blast.

“The explosion took place this (Wednesday) afternoon at a scrap dealer’s shop in the Nai Basti area,” police inspector Pankaj Rai told IANS over phone from Mathura, about 300 km from here.

“Preliminary investigations reveal that the blast took place when the scrap dealer tried to hammer a shell to extract the brass. The scrap was collected from a cantonment area. It could be a live mortar shell that exploded,” Rai said.

Six people, who were injured in the blast, were undergoing treatment in hospitals of Mathura and Agra, police said.