German police have detained a suspect in connection with an explosion at a residential building that injured at least a dozen people Thursday, some of them seriously, a senior security official said.
The interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, Herbert Reul, said 10 firefighters and two police officers were injured in the blast at a high-rise building in the town of Ratingen.
A body was also recovered from the building, he said. The identity of the person and the circumstances of their death weren’t immediately known.
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Firefighters and police were called to the building in the morning after concerns were raised about two residents.
Following the explosion, heavily armed officers took up positions around the site, with television footage showing police snipers positioned on a balcony across the road from the building as smoke poured out of a top-floor apartment.
Hours later a suspect, believed to be in his 60s, was brought out of the building, police spokesperson Diane Dulischewski told German news channel n-tv. She couldn’t immediately provide further information on the man.
Ratingen is located on the northeastern outskirts of Duesseldorf, the state capital.
