Three explosions early this morning caused substantial damage to a pastizzeria in Luqa, and the police are still to establish the cause.

The police said that officers at the Luqa police station heard an explosion at 2am and, upon investigating, they noticed a fire that had developed in the outlet, which is close to the station in St Andrew’s Road.

The explosion also caused the outlet’s shutter to be unhinged and ended up in the middle of the road.

The officers started to evacuate the buildings nearby and, while doing this exercise, two more explosions were heard.

An ambulance was called on site but nobody was injured.

The cause of the explosions is still being investigated.

Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia is conducting an inquiry.

Photos James Bianchi