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Dry-Ice Bomb Explodes In Long Beach, Injures Officer

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Photo by Mr.Thomas via Flickr

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A crude, homemade dry-ice bomb -- a device that uses water, a bottle and dry ice, or frozen carbon dioxide -- exploded in an alley near the 91 Artesia Freeway on Sunday slightly injuring a Long Beach police officer, reports the Daily Breeze.

Officers, responding near Bort Street and Butler Avenue to reports of what neighbors believed were fireworks, arrived on the scene just after noon and found the bomb hidden inside a plastic bag. It exploded, "sending the officer reeling," causing minor injuries, said officials.

At the other end of the alley, which runs just south of the 91 Freeway behind homes and apartments, another similar explosive was discovered. Residents were temporarily evacuated and the LA County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad was called in to detonate the device.

It can take anywhere from 30 seconds to an hour for a dry-ice bomb to rupture, depending on temperatures outside of the bottle, according to California criminal codes banning the devices.

A felony punishable by jail time and steep fines, no arrests had been announced as of Sunday afternoon. Officials are investigating who planted the bombs and why.

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