Gas explosion, firebomb attack reported in Juarez

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Police in Juarez, Mexico, are investigating an incendiary device attack on a money exchange house whose operators reportedly were threatened by criminals.

Firefighters were called to a strip shopping center near the corner of Americas and Mejia just after midnight on Tuesday to put out the flames at the Centro Cambiario Missouri. The glass doors of the building were broken and jugs filled with an unknown liquid were found at the scene.

Juarez police told a Border Report camera crew the business had previously been targeted for extortion. Dozens of money exchange houses operate primarily in tourist areas of Juarez. The damaged business is about half a mile south of the Bridge of the Americas port of entry to El Paso, Texas.

Also on Tuesday, several fire trucks were called to the scene of an apparent gas explosion inside a home in the Portales de San Pedro neighborhood. The blast tore down a wall, shattered windows and knocked down a wrought-iron fence. Several nearby homes had minor damage

A preliminary investigation points to a natural gas explosion resulting from a leak, firefighters said.

ProVideo contributed to this report .

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