Local and federal authorities are investigating a vehicle explosion in downtown Nashville that police characterized as an “intentional act.”

The explosion, which shattered the city’s Christmas morning quiet, occurred at 6:20 a.m. Friday in the center of the city’s business district, according to a police Twitter account. Smoke and fire could been seen from the area surrounding the explosion, just across the Cumberland river from the Tennessee Titan’s Nissan stadium and half a mile from the state Capitol.

Joseph Pleasant of the Nashville Fire Department said at a news conference that three people were taken to local hospitals with non-critical injuries.

Photos posted to social media by the city’s fire department showed broken windows, damaged trees and extensive property damage along a stretch of 2nd Avenue North in Nashville.

A local newspaper reported that the blast from the explosion could be felt from miles away and that the city’s bomb squad was on the scene.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com

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