By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON (AA) – Three men were charged on Saturday in connection with an ongoing investigation into last weekend’s blast that killed five people in Leicester, U.K., a police statement said.
Arkan Ali, 37, Hawkar Hassan, 32, and Aram Kurd, 33, have each been “charged with five counts of manslaughter and arson with intent to endanger life.”
They will be held in custody during the weekend and will appear before Leicester Magistrates on Monday 5 March, according to the statement from the Leicestershire Police.
Two other men, who were arrested in the investigation, also remain in police custody as detectives continue to question them.
The statement also asked journalists not to speculate about the case.
“Throughout this complex investigation we have been urging journalists and members of the public not to speculate about the cause of the explosion,” it said.
“With three people now charged and due in court, it becomes even more important, for legal reasons, that this message is heeded.
“A continuance of such ill-informed and speculative commentary threatens to jeopardise this investigation and serves only to cause further distress to the families of those killed and injured,” it added.
Five people were killed and another five were hospitalized on Sunday, Feb. 25, following an explosion that ripped through a building in Leicester.
The explosion that demolished a shop and the flats above it took place shortly after 7:00 p.m. local time (1900GMT), with Leicestershire Police declaring it a “major incident”.
A statement by the local police said they believed the incident was not terror related.
