3 deaths confirmed in Australian murder suicide

Police in Australia's Queensland state have confirmed an explosion in which a man and his two sons were killed was a deliberate act by the father.

Police in the outback town of Mount Isa have spent the past 11 days investigating the explosion which was initially blamed on two gas cylinders in a camper van near the family home.

But police said on Friday that explosives were used to cause the inferno which shook the entire neighborhood and damaged surrounding houses.

The man, Charlie Hinder, was in a custody dispute over the sons, 4 and 7, with his estranged wife who lived in a house on the property where the camper van was located.

Mount Isa District Officer Superintendent Russell Miller said the mother had been told of the development seemed to be aware of what the explosion was.

"She was resigned to the fact," he told reporters.

"The lady's still quite grief stricken and still struggling to come to grips with it all." Endi