3 wounded as blast destroys cafe in Nizhny Novgorod

An explosion destroyed a café building and injured three people in a Russian city 400 kilometers (248 miles) east of Moscow, emergency officials said.The blast in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday morning occurred in the annex of a 12-storey residential building where the café was located. Three people sustained injuries.The annex collapsed, and about 100 windows in the residential building shattered as the result of the explosion.

Local authorities evacuated 106 residents from the building, the Interfax news agency reported.It wasn't immediately clear what caused the explosion.Media reports initially suggested it was a gas explosion, but local emergency officials said the residential building did not use gas.A chain that owned the café said it didn't use gas, either.Authorities have opened a criminal probe.