Blast kills two at Bulgarian weapons maker

SOFIA (Reuters) - Two workers were killed on Monday in an explosion at Bulgaria's biggest weapons maker, Arsenal, in the center of the country, the interior ministry said. "The blast occurred at 10.20 am local time (0720 GMT) in a warehouse for handling explosives and other material," said Nikola Nikolov, head of the ministry's fire safety unit, adding that two people had died. Police initially said the blast, in the town of Kazanluk, 230 km (144 miles) east of the capital Sofia, triggered a fire that was quickly put out. But Nikolov said there was no fire and no danger of any further explosions. It was too early to say what the reason was for the explosion, he said. There have been several other accidents in the arms industry in the Black Sea state. In 2014, a series of powerful blasts at a Bulgarian explosives plant killed 15 employees in the village of Gorni Lom, some 145 km (90 miles) northwest of Sofia. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov and Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Richard Balmforth)