An explosion at a block of flats in the city of Khabarovsk, in the Russian Far East, has killed at least two people.

The Interfax news agency quoted emergency services in the city as saying the five storey building was evacuated immediately after the blast while fire fighters tackled a blaze.

The emergency services said the explosion had been caused by a gas leak in one of the flats.

Earlier, investigators said they could not rule out a criminal act. Last year, a series of bombings of apartment buildings in Moscow and two other cities killed around three-hundred people.

The authorities blamed the explosions on Chechen rebels, though no-one has ever claimed responsibility.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service