Canada explosion: Three fighting for life and 12 more injured as bomb is detonated in Mississauga restaurant

Police are hunting two masked men who set off a bomb inside an Indian restaurant outside Toronto, injuring at least 15 people.

The pair fled Bombay Bhel in Mississauga after walking in and detonating an improvised explosive device.

The blast happened at about 10.30pm local time last night.

Fifteen people were taken to hospital, three of them with critical injuries. No one has claimed responsibility, and the motive for the attack was not known.

Police posted a photograph on Twitter showing the two suspects with dark zip-up hoodies, their faces covered, walking into the restaurant.

One appeared to be carrying an object. Detectives launched an appeal to identify them and described them as about 5ft 10 with light or fair skin.

Rafael Conceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, told broadcaster CBC he heard the blast and rushed to help.

“Glass was broken in the street. There was a child’s birthday party. Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood on the floor. Many people were screaming, they were trying to run from the restaurant. There was a guy with glass inside his eyes. Many people were bleeding so much.”

Andre Larrivee told the Globe and Mail newspaper he was watching television in his home when he heard the blast. “It was really loud,” he said.

Roads in the area were closed and heavily-armed tactical officers arrived as part of a major emergency response.

The attack came a month after a driver ploughed a rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15.

Mississauga is Canada’s sixth largest city, with about 700,000 people, and is on Lake Ontario 20 miles west of Tor-onto.

About 23 per cent of its population is of south Asian origin

The attack in Mississauga, Canada's sixth largest city, comes a month after a driver ploughed his white Ryder rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15.