Several people were injured on Monday in an explosion that was likely caused by gas lines in a restaurant in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi, the police said in a statement.
The blast hit KFC and Hardees restaurants on the city’s Rashid bin Saeed Street, Abu Dhabi-owned the National daily said, adding that other retail outlets were also damaged.
Abu Dhabi police said the explosion caused several minor and moderate injuries, and residents of the building and surrounding areas were evacuated.
Photos published on social and local media showed extensive damage to the two restaurants with a white plume of smoke rising from the ground floor of the building.
Rashid Saeed Street is also known as the airport road, where top aides to U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to land later on Monday, in a historical trip between Israel and another Arab country.
