Homemade bomb injures seven in Santiago

A homemade bomb exploded Monday next to a subway station in Chile's capital Santiago, injuring at least seven people, officials said.

The explosion occurred at lunch time near a fast-food outlet in an underground shopping gallery, meters away from the Military Academy subway station.

Authorities said that an explosive device was placed in a garbage can within one of the gallery's hallways.

"Investigative sources confirmed the explosive was a fire extinguisher (filled) with gunpowder that went off inside a trash can near one of the food locales," reported El Mercurio daily, a local newspaper.

Several people suffered ear trauma from the blast and one man lost several fingers.

"It was a terrorist act (and) it requires that the country take decisive action. We will invoke the Anti-Terrorist Law," Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo told reporters.