COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A bomb exploded at the entrance to a recreation park in the Maldives, wounding at least 12 foreign tourists Saturday, a government official said.
The homemade bomb exploded outside Sultan Park in the capital, Male, leaving 12 people, including two Britons, six Chinese and two Japanese with burns, government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said.
He didn't know the identities of the two other victims.
"The Maldives has never had something like this before. We are taking this very seriously because tourism is our lifeblood,'' Shareef said.
The country made up of tiny atolls in the Indian Ocean receives roughly 600,000 tourists every year, and tourism represents a third of the Maldives' economy.
The government will seek help from Interpol, the U.S. and India in the investigation, Shareef said.
