Twelve foreign tourists, including eight Chinese nationals, were injured in an explosion in the Maldivian capital of Male on Saturday afternoon, the Maldivian government said.

Mohamed H. Shareef, the chief government spokesman, told Xinhua via phone from Male that among the injured eight are Chinese nationals, two are Japanese and two are British nationals.

Shareef said that the eight Chinese tourists and the two Japanese tourists have been discharged after being treated at hospital, but the two British nationals are still in hospital because they received extensive burns.

He said the explosion happened at about 2:30 PM local time (0930 GMT) in a park in the central area of Male.  The detonation device was homemade.

The spokesman said the government has no clues about who is responsible.

Shareef said this was the first such explosion in the Maldives for many years and the government will do its best to investigate the incident.

More than 60,000 tourists visit the archipelago each year, generating about one-third of the country's total income.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2007)