PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) – A bomb exploded in a trash bin in downtown Port-of-Spain on Monday, injuring 14 people, police said.

The commercial district was evacuated and the area checked for additional bombs, but none were located, Deputy Police Commissioner Glen Roach said.

“We have no idea of the kind of device used nor who is behind it,” Roach said.

Kenrick Bethelmy, spokesman for the Trinidad fire department, said most injuries appeared to be minor, except for those of a 26-year-old vendor and a woman passer-by.

Bethelmy described their condition as “life-threatening.”

Local media reported that a man was seen placing a package in the garbage bin shortly before the afternoon explosion at a busy intersection in the capital of the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The site of the blast is two blocks from the national Parliament, which was meeting at the time.

Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he directed the national security minister and police to use all resources to catch those responsible. Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown called for extra security precautions.

The former British colony of 1.3 million people, located off the northern coast of South America, is the most prosperous member of the 15-member Caribbean Community, thanks to its petroleum and natural gas deposits. In recent years, it has become the leading supplier of liquid natural gas to the United States, supplying 75 percent of imports last year.

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