March 06, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 16, 1428

MOSCOW: A powerful explosion occurred on Monday at a Russian defence industry plant whose products include explosives, killing one person and shattering windows of nearby homes, emergency officials and news reports said.

The explosion took place while a product was being tested at the state-run Altai research and development centre in the Siberian city of Biisk, ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported.

A shop director was killed and another employee was hospitalized, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said.

At least one building was badly damaged, and windows were shattered at another factory in the area and several homes in a nearby village, ITAR-Tass and Interfax reported.—AP