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LOS ANGELES: An explosion at a Los Angeles law enforcement training facility early Friday that killed three deputies was being investigated as a possible training accident, officials said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the deputies were members of the arson and explosives unit, a team that goes through in-depth training and responds to more than 1,000 calls a year.

“They have years of training,” he said. “They are fantastic experts and, unfortunately, I lost three of them today.”

The explosion was reported about 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Training Facility, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Nicole Nishida said. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion or what the deputies were doing at the time.

Luna said it took more than four hours to render the scene safe and the deaths are being investigated by the department’s homicide detectives, who are being assisted by the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. No one else was injured in the explosion, he said.

An early line of investigation was looking at a possible training accident, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

LONDON: An anti-war protester was arrested in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Friday for showing support for a pro-Palestinian group that was recently banned in the UK.

The 64-year-old man was accused of holding a poster during a demonstration that allegedly displayed support for Palestine Action, local media reported.

The group was proscribed this month under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, after Palestine Action activists sprayed paint on two military aircraft after breaking into a Royal Air Force base on June 20. It means that membership or support for the group is now a criminal offense.

The ban came into force on July 5 and since then dozens of people have been arrested across the UK for showing support for the group.

Police Scotland said the man in Glasgow was arrested “in connection with an offense under the Terrorism Act for displaying a sign expressing support for a proscribed organization.”

Protesters chanted “let him go” as he was led away to a police van, The Herald newspaper reported. His arrest follows two others in the city in recent days involving people accused of showing support for the group.

More than 70 people were arrested in cities across the UK last weekend during protests against the banning of Palestine Action.

After MPs voted in favor of proscribing the group, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it had a “long history” of criminal damage.

“The UK’s defense enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk,” she added.

However, the ban was widely criticized by UN experts and human rights groups as draconian and for conflating protest with acts of terrorism.

Hundreds of politicians and campaigners signed a letter this week condemning the decision as “a major assault on our freedoms.”