Chilean officials say man dies when bomb he handles explodes

Police forensics inspect an area where a bomb exploded in a residential neighborhood in downtown Santiago, Chile, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. The homemade bomb killed a man, officials said, adding to a string of blasts in Chile's capital. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo) (The Associated Press)

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Police tape off an area where a bomb exploded in a residential neighborhood in downtown Santiago, Chile, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. The homemade bomb killed a man, officials said, adding to a string of blasts in Chile's capital. (AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo) (The Associated Press)

SANTIAGO, Chile – Chilean prosecutors say a man has died when the bomb he was handling exploded in downtown Santiago.

Prosecutor Claudio Orellana says the unknown young man "had been manipulating a homemade explosive artefact, and in those circumstance, it blew up on him."

The man was taken to an emergency clinic, where he died.

Thursday's explosion follows scores of other small-scale blasts around Chile's capital that authorities have blamed on anarchist cells. The only other fatality also is believed to be a man planting a bomb.

Three alleged anarchists are in custody on suspicion of planting at least four bombs, including one that injured 14 people this month.