A MAN in Serbia blew up the entrance to a busy nightclub with a hand grenade after he was refused admission, killing himself, a friend and a bystander and injuring eight others, said police and state media.
The grenade exploded in the entrance to the club in Idvor, a village north of Belgrade, at 2.30am (or 00.30 GMT), police said. Around 150 people were inside at the time.
Zoran Surdan, 26, who was injured in the blast, told the Tanjug news agency: "Everything flew around us with shrapnel hitting our legs, arms and bodies. It all happened in a second."
The unnamed man and a friend of his were among the fatalities, said Serbian state television, adding that he activated the grenade after he and his friends were refused entry by the club's security. Three of the injured are understood to be in a serious condition.
The Balkan wars of the 1990s left grenades and firearms relatively easily available in Serbia, so these types of incidents are not unusual.
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Police added that the nightclub was open illegally as it had previously been ordered shut due to inadequate fire control standards.