HULU SELANGOR: The peace in the quiet town of Bukit Beruntung was shattered when a homemade bomb exploded in the service area of a bank in Melati Industrial Park here early Tuesday.

Another bomb outside the bank did not detonate and a bomb disposal squad from the Selangor police headquarters managed to deactivate it by noon.

The bank's assistant manager, known only as Hue, said the explosion triggered the security alarm and the bank's headquarters were alerted of the incident at approximately 5am.

"I received a call from the headquarters and immediately lodged a police report.

"This is the first time such an incident happened since the bank started operations in 1997," he added.

Hue explained that three automated teller machines, two cash deposit machines, two cash recycling machines and one check deposit machine were damaged by the blast.

He added that bank personnel had not replenished money in the machines since Friday.

Selangor deputy CID chief ACP Rooslan Radzi said money in the machines were intact despite the damage.

"The ceiling collapsed, causing a mess in the bank's service area. The tellers were damaged, but no money was removed from the machines," he said.

ACP Rooslan said police are reviewing closed circuit television footage to determine the sequence of events leading to the explosion and to identify those involved.

"We have yet to ascertain the number of suspects or their nationality. However, we suspect that more than one person was involved," he told reporters.

ACP Rooslan explained that there were no security guards in the bank at the time.

"We were told that there were witnesses present at the time of the explosion. We urge them to come forward and assist us in investigations," he said, adding that police have yet to classify the case.