Updated

Turkish media reports say a powerful gas explosion in a building in central Istanbul has injured at least three people.

Private NTV said the blast occurred Monday on a narrow street close to the city's Taksim Square.

The station quoted Istanbul's governor, Huseyin Avni Mutlu, as saying the explosion is believed to have been caused either by a natural gas leak or a gas canister.

The explosion gutted the building, shattered the windows of homes and overturned a car in the street, NTV video footage showed.