HongKong teenagers arrested for possessing explosives

Three Hong Kong teenagers have been arrested for possession of explosives, and tests are being made to determine if the material is the same type used in the deadly 2005 London transport bombings, police said yesterday.

The arrests came after one of the youths set off a homemade bomb on Saturday, almost blowing his hand off.

Police spokesman Lawrence Li said experts were trying to confirm that the explosive used by the boys, aged 13 and 14, is triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP.

Chief inspector Chan Wai-man was quoted by Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper as saying the explosive was believed to be TATP.

That explosive was used by the four suicide bombers who killed 52 commuters in London in 2005.

Police found the injured 13-year-old on Saturday at a food store managed by his family. He had ignited a fuse attached to two plastic bottles containing explosive powder, the Sunday Morning Post reported, adding that he suffered two broken fingers and injuries to his face and eyes in the explosion.

Officers later seized six more bottles of explosives and a computer from a 14-year-old's home, and arrested another 13-year-old, the Sunday Morning Post reported.