BELGRADE, Serbia – A man blew up the entrance to a packed Serb nightclub with a hand grenade after he was refused admission early Sunday, killing himself, a friend and a bystander, and injuring eight others, police and state media said.
The explosion ripped through the entrance to the club in Idvor, north of Belgrade, at 2:30 a.m. (0030 GMT Sunday; 8:30 p.m. EDT Saturday), police said in a statement. Around 150 customers were inside at the time.
"Everything flew around us with shrapnel hitting our legs, arms and bodies," 26-year-old Zoran Surdan, who was injured in the blast, was quoted as telling the state-run Tanjug news agency. "It all happened in a second."
Serbian state TV said the man and one of his friends were among those killed. It said he activated the grenade after he and three of his friends were refused entry by the club's security. Three of the injured are understood to be in a serious condition.
Such incidents are not unusual in Serbia as the Balkan wars of the 1990s have left hand grenades and firearms relatively easily available.
Police said the nightclub was open illegally as it had previously been ordered shut because of inadequate fire control standards.
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