At least 18 killed in blast at Crimea college - official

At least 18 people were killed on Wednesday in an explosion at a technical college in the city of Kerch on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a Russian anti-terror committee representative said.

"According to provisional information, 10 people died, and 50 were injured," National Anti-Terror Committee spokesperson Andrei Przhedomskikh told official news agency TASS, adding that the building was evacuated and cordoned off after the "explosion".

However, Sergei Aksyonov, the regional leader in Crimea said 18 people died and more than 40 were wounded in an attack on a college in the Black Sea peninsula launched by one of its students.

Aksyonov said that the student killed himself after the attack. He didn't name the man, saying only he was a local resident and was acting alone.

Aksyonov's statement follows Russian officials' report that an explosive device ripped through the college in Kerch in eastern Crimea in a suspected terrorist attack.

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