Bangladesh Explosion LIVE UPDATES: Blast in Dhaka’s Gulistan kills at least 18, injures 100

Death toll for blast in Bangladesh capital Dhaka's Gulistan area on Tuesday rises to 18, while over a hundred people are reported to be injured. 

• The blast took place inside a seven-storey building here in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. 
• The death toll is likely to increase as many people are trapped in the basement as per local reports. 
• The building has several stores selling sanitary products and a branch of the BRAC bank in the adjacent building. 
• The blast shattered the glass walls of the bank and damaged a bus parked opposite the building.

Eleven firefighting teams carry out rescue operations at the blast site in Dhaka, as per The Daily Star. 

Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq has said the incident of explosion in Gulistan area seems to be an accident and not an act of sabotage.

"Primarily we are suspecting that it is an accident. Different units are working to find out whether it was sabotage. So far, no evidence of sabotage was found at the spot till now. The law enforcement agencies are investigating it," he said while talking to the reporters at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Fire services department has rescued many people who were trapped in the aftermath of the blast. Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq said that the building where the blast took place houses a bank and sanitary ware store.

He added that 11 have reported dead so far, while 3 to 4 are in critical condition. "Several injured. I have visited the spot. We have begun an investigation. We will take help of other agencies to investigate the cause of the blast. We are going to investigate whether it was a terror attack or an accidental blast," he said.