At least 15 people killed and more deaths expected

Sudan warns of “right to strike back” after alleged Israeli air strike

A massive explosion at a fertiliser plant near Waco in the US state of Texas is thought to have killed between five and 15 people, and caused about 160 casualties.

A final death toll is yet to be confirmed but officials expect the number of deaths to rise.

The blast is being treated as a crime scene, though no evidence of criminal activity has yet been found, Waco police sergeant William Patrick Swanton told a press briefing.

The explosion struck at 7:50pm local time and is reported to have destroyed about 50 to 75 homes, a nursing home and a middle school.

The US Geological Survey registered the explosion as a 2.1 magnitude quake, adding that “the magnitude measures only the ground motion, not the air wave, so is substantially less than the true size of the event”.

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