GURUN (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK): The Kedah police have recovered a number of dented half cut splinters of explosive ordnance from the house of an army personnel in Taman Ria Mesra II which exploded and killed three on Wednesday.

Kedah CID chief ACP Nashir Ya said some of the objects had marks indicating its usage by the "Malaysian Security Forces."

"Following investigations and the size of the seat of explosion at the scene it indicated that the powerful blast was not due to gas cylinders.

"We also recovered a big number of banned firecrackers at the back of the house," he said in a statement on Thursday.

He said the impact of explosion is one metre in radius at the back of the house were the blast damaged 10 other houses and affected 34 others.

Three people - Ayob Hassim, 34, an army personnel at Kem Hobart, Gurun, his eight-year-old daughter Hidayah Ayob, and his neighbour's son, Afiq Lokman Mohd Sharizal, 5, - died in the 4.45pm incident at a house in Taman Ria Mesra on Wednesday.

His neighbour's son, Mohd Aqif Lukman Shahrizan, four, also perished but his mother Zuraida Mat Rotebi, 30, survived with serious injuries.

The remains were sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar for post-mortem while the injured were sent to the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Sungai Petani.

Nashir added that an eyewitness saw Ayob in the midst of grinding an object similar to a mortar bomb behind his house prior to the explosion at about 4.45pm.

"The investigation would focus on how the explosive ordnance were obtained and the reason why Ayob grind or cut it," he said.