At least eight people were killed and more than 20 hurt Thursday in a minibus blast in Moldova's breakaway Trans-Dniester region Thursday.

Authorities said a bomb could have caused the explosion but could not offer details as an investigation was launched, the BBC reported.

The explosion ripped the minibus at an intersection in downtown Tiraspol, a Trans-Dniester Interior Ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said the blast was so powerful the roof of the minibus was thrown 330 feet away and clothes were ripped off the bodies of the victims, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The Trans-Dniester region broke away from Moldova in the 1991-92 war but its independence has not been recognized internationally.

In March, the situation in the mainly Russian speaking region became tense when Moldova and Ukraine imposed customs barriers that Trans-Dniester officials described as an economic blockade.