California: One dead as bomb cause heavy damage to fertility clinic in Palm Springs; cops call it ‘intentional’ | WATCH

An explosion in California's Palm Springs on Saturday caused heavy damage to a fertility clinic and killed one. Palm Springs Police reveled that the incident "appears to be an intentional act of violence," and multiple buildings sustained damage, with some suffering extensive destruction. FBI has already deployed investigators and bomb technicians at the spot to assist in the investigation.

“There has been one fatality, the person's identity is not known,” Police Chief Andy Mills statement said.

The explosion happened around 11 a.m. local time and that residents were being asked to avoid the area around North Indian Canyon Drive near East Tachevah Drive.

Aerial images showed a charred vehicle in a parking lot behind the building where the fertility clinic was located. The explosion collapsed the building’s roof and scattered debris across the sidewalk and all four lanes of the street opposite the structure.

Two officials told AP that incident was being incident as a possible car explosion. One further informed that investigators believe the person who died is likely the person who set off the explosion. But it is too early to come into a conclusion.

FBI's Los Angeles field office said in a social media post on X that “assets being deployed include investigators, bomb technicians & an evidence response team.” Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also assisting.

Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers fertility clinic, confirmed that his clinic was damaged. He told The Associated Press in a phone interview that all of his staff were safe and accounted for. The explosion damaged the practice's office space, where it conducts consultations with patients, but left the IVF lab and all of the stored embryos there unharmed.

“I really have no clue what happened,” Abdallah said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”

(With inputs from AP)