Explosion damages building in Barcelona

An explosion damaged the Italian Cultural Institute in Barcelona today and injured a policeman, the Italian Embassy said.

A police official in Spain’s second-largest city said the blast occurred inside the building, but that it did not appear to be a terrorist attack.

Embassy spokesman Filip La Rosa said it was too early to say.

Staff at the institute called police when they entered the building this morning and found a suspicious object, he said.

The explosion occurred while police bomb-disposal experts with a bomb-sniffing dog were examining it, he said.

La Rosa described the explosion as small. He said it happened just before 8.15am. (7.15am Irish Time).