Three people were killed and two injured in an explosion early on Wednesday in a town north of Beirut, the private television station LBC reported.

The explosion rocked a shopping center in Kaslik, 20 km north of Beirut.

Police said that a woman was among the dead and an Indian man was injured in the explosion.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, police said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2005)