Blast on Dortmund bus

At least one person has been injured by an explosion on the bus taking the Borussia Dortmund soccer team to their Champions League quarter-final first-leg match against Monaco on Tuesday, the German club said.

BBC reported that defender and Spanish international Marc Bartra was injured in the explosion.

"Shortly after the departure of the Borussia Dortmund team bus from the hotel to the stadium there was an incident. The bus has been damaged in two places," Dortmund said in a statement.

"One person has been injured and is in the hospital. At this point we will inform as soon as we know more."

The German side's Champions League quarterfinal first-leg against Monaco was postponed in the aftermath of the incident.

A statement from local police said: “In the run-up to the Champions League match of BVB against AS Monaco, there was an explosion near the BVB team teambus shortly after 7pm. The location of the event is Wittbräuckerstraße/Schirrmannweg in Dortmund-Höchsten.

 “According to current knowledge the windows of the bus (whole or partial) were shattered and one person was injured. It is not yet possible to say exactly what the explosion was or exactly where something exploded.”

A tweet from the German club's official Twitter account an hour before kick-off at the Westfalenstadion had first alerted news of an incident. “At our bus departure, an incident has occurred. One person was injured. More information to follow,” it read.

A later tweet read: “A bomb exploded at the team bus next to the hotel. The players are safe. There is no danger at the stadium.”

Fortunately, it appears that the injuries sustained by Barta were not serious, with reports in Germany saying that the 26-year-old was taken to a local hospital with superficial cuts to his arm.

According to German outlet Bild, three explosive devices were deposited on the street in front of the bus although police have yet to give any more details.