Belarus Independence Day Blast

The bomb went off about 12.30 a.m. Belarusians were celebrating their Independence Day on July 3 to mark the 1944 liberation from Nazism.

Most of the injured were young revelers, many of whom did not hear the blast above the noise and fireworks.

Emergency personnel were quickly on the scene. Most injuries were to the legs and arms.

Police and medical sources have said over 20 people were injured in the attack, three of them severely.

Victim Lilia Melnik, 28, said she was sitting with friends next to pine trees when the bomb went off. She received treatment at the hospital to have metal fragments removed from her legs.

Viktar Hurko, a doctor at Minsk's Hospital No. 6, shows a piece of metal removed from a victim's body.

The site of the explosion this morning. Police have described the incident as "hooliganism" and say it is too early to tell whether it was the work of terrorists.