Turkish blast kills 3 in possible attack

Explosion rips through Turkish capital NEW: A car explodes in central Ankara, the interior minister saysNEW: The possibility that it was a terror attack is high, he saysWounded people are taken to nearby hospitals

(CNN) -- Three people died Tuesday in an explosion in the Turkish capital Ankara, in what may have been a terror attack, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin told CNN sister network CNN Turk.

"There was a powerful explosion in a car that was parked," the minister said, citing preliminary information. "The possibility that it was a terrorist attack is high."

He said it was also possible that a gas explosion had caused the blast, "though that is a weak possibility."

The explosion shook a crowded street in the center of Ankara, damaging vehicles and buildings on Kumrular Street near the Kizilay metro station, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

An eyewitness described the scene as "terrible" and "very chaotic."

"Cars were exploding. Pieces were spreading around. We were terrified," the unnamed witness told CNN Turk.

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said earlier there were no deaths, but 15 people were wounded, Anatolia reported.

Ankara governor Alaaddin Yuksel said officials, including police and a prosecutor, were investigating the cause of the blast.

He said many cars were parked on the street with garbage bags under them at the time of the explosion.

Five people are in surgery, he added.

An emergency services doctor at Numune Hospital in Ankara said 10 injured people were brought to the hospital. One was in intensive care, one was in the burn unit and the other eight have light injuries, said the doctor.

None of the injuries are life-threatening, said the doctor, who did not give a name. Doctors in state hospitals are not allowed to speak to the media.

The explosion took place in front of the Cankaya municipal building, local official Bulent Tanik said on Turkish television.

He cited eyewitnesses as saying a burning gas tank had been thrown out a window onto the street.

Police have sealed off the street, Anatolia reported.

--CNN's Yesim Comert and Talia Kayali contributed to this report.

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Quake kills 18 in India, Nepal

Nepalese personnel in Kathmandu stand on the rubble of a British Embassy wall that collapsed in Sunday's earthquake. STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Local government officials tell CNN-IBN that at least 18 are dead, mostly in India300 civilians, 22 tourists are rescued near India's border with Tibet, an official saysThe quakes set off landslides that, with heavy rains, are hampering rescue effortsA wall of the British embassy in Kathmandu collapsed due to the quake, killing 3 New Delhi (CNN) -- At least 18 people -- 13 in India and five in Nepal -- died when a magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck the northern Indian state of Sikkim near the border between the two nations Sunday night, local government officials told sister network CNN-IBN.

The dead include three in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, who died when a wall of the British embassy collapsed, according to Kedar Rijal, Kathmandu police chief. They included an 8-year-old girl, her father and a third person.

The British Foreign Office confirmed a "compound perimeter wall" of the embassy collapsed, adding that its ambassador has met with the community and offered condolences.

Police said in a statement that two more people died in the Nepalese town of Dhara, about 217 miles east of Kathmandu. About a dozen people were injured when they jumped from their houses during the quake, police said.

On Sunday, Sikkim's chief secretary Karma Gyatso said that six people had died in that province and 33 were injured. But that toll has risen since, government officials told CNN-IBN, with fatalities reported across several different Indian provinces. The network said the dead include at least two Indian army personnel.

At least two buildings in Sikkim had collapsed and others developed cracks, Gyatso said. The damage was still being assessed as first-responders and others worked to find and help survivors, he said.

By early Monday, 300 civilians had been rescued in one such effort near Sikkim's border with China, said Indo-Tibetan Border Police spokesman Deepak Kumar Pandey. Some 22 tourists -- all of them Indians -- were also rescued in the same area.

The deaths and damage came after a total of three quakes struck the region in rapid succession in a mountainous region.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the largest quake at 6.8 magnitude, later upgrading it to a 6.9, and the other two at magnitudes 4.8 and 4.6. All three occurred within an hour and 15 minutes, the U.S. agency said. The India Meteorological Department said the quakes were 6.8 magnitude, 5.7 magnitude and 5.3 magnitude.

The quakes set off landslides, which -- along with heavy rains -- were blocking roads and hampering rescue efforts, Pandey said. He expressed fears that the toll, as far as deaths and damage, could be more than is now known, anticipating more will be known once the sun rises Monday.

Already, authorities have reported power outages and downed phone lines in Sikkim.

Emergency crews were dispatched from different locations to the region, India's home ministry said in an alert to reporters. At least four fighter jets were carrying rescue officers to a neighboring region, where they travel by road to Gangtok, Sikkim's capital, according to the alert.

As for outside help, World Vision announced Sunday that it "has put its emergency response team in India on standby" to provide relief as requested. The nonprofit organization reported that the quake cut off phone communication and electricity in parts of Sikkim and West Bengal provinces.

"The whole earth was shaking and it lasted for two minutes," Paul Mathai from World Vision, who was 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the epicenter, said in a statement from the organization. "We were panicked, but all of us are safe."

No tsunami warning was issued. The strongest earthquake, which struck at 6:10 p.m. local time (8:40 a.m. ET), was 12.2 miles below the earth's surface, according to the USGS.

That quake's epicenter was about 42 miles from the city of Gangtok and 169 miles east of Kathmandu, according to the geological survey.

CNN's Harmeet Singh, Manesh Shrestha and Bharati Naik contributed to this report.

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