PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - A bomb exploded in a trash bin in downtown Port-of-Spain yesterday, wounding 14 people, a police official said. The commercial district was evacuated and the area checked for additional bombs, but none were located, Deputy Police Commissioner Glen Roach said. "We have no idea of the kind of device used nor who is behind it," Roach said. Lennox Alfred, chief fire officer for Trinidad, said the 14 injured included a 26-year-old street vendor and a woman passer-by who were in critical condition. A witness reported seeing one woman with her hand partially severed. Police and soldiers with automatic rifles swarmed downtown after the explosion as rescuers aided the victims. Local media reported that a man was seen placing a package in the garbage bin shortly before the explosion around 2:00 pm on the corner of Frederick and Queen streets, a major intersection in the capital city of the two-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The site of the blast is two blocks from the national Parliament, which was meeting at the time. Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning called the incident a "dastardly act", and said he directed the national security minister and police to use all resources to catch those responsible. "The prime minister wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured and traumatised and assures the nation that all emergency plans are in place. to ensure normalcy is returned in the shortest possible time," Manning's office said in a statement. Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown called for extra security precautions. "It is something I think we will all be concerned about and I am sure the security forces have already started putting things in place," he said in a radio interview. The two-island country, a former British colony of 1.3 million people, is the most prosperous member of the 15-member Caribbean Community, thanks to its petroleum and natural gas deposits. In recent years, it has become the leading supplier of liquid natural gas to the United States, supplying 75 per cent of imports last year. Reprinted from jamaicaobserver.com