AKIPRESS.COM - A gas explosion at a shopping center in the Mexican border city of Reynosa on Thursday left two people dead and seven injured, authorities said.

The blast caused a portion of the Valle del Vergel shopping center on Reynosa's main thoroughfare to collapse, the government of Tamaulipas state said in a statement, the AP reported.

Television footage showed a pile of rubble and corrugated metal where the part of the building used to stand. The blast shattered windows in nearby buildings and cars. Nearby homes were also damaged, local media reported.

Rescuers continued searching for trapped shoppers and workers at the shopping center in Reynosa, an industrial city across the border from McAllen, Texas.

Reynosa has been the scene of battles between drug cartel members and federal forces in recent months, but the state government said the cause of the explosion was an accumulation of gas in one of the shops.