Six killed in Indian firecracker blast

Six people, including two children, have been killed and seven others injured in an explosion in a village near the eastern Indian city of Calcutta.

The incident took place in the village of Barberia, some 55 km south of Calcutta.

Police say some villagers who were making fire-crackers set them off by accident.

But local opposition activists say supporters of West Bengal's governing Marxist-Communist party were making bombs when the explosion occurred.

They said they believed the pro-government activists were manufacturing bombs on a large scale in preparation for the upcoming West Bengal state assembly elections.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service