(Updates death toll, adds details)

By Charles Mangwiro

MAPUTO, March 22 (Reuters) - Hot temperatures in the capital of Mozambique set off a series of explosions at a military armoury on Thursday that killed nine people, national media said.

Explosions at the facility, a main storage area for old armaments, sent mortars and rockets flying into residential areas of Maputo and forced the closure of the city's airport.

Mozambique President Armando Guebuza had been due to fly to South Africa on Friday to meet that country's president, Thabo Mbeki, but state radio said the visit had been cancelled due to the blasts.

There was no immediate information about when the airport would reopen.

Mozambique TVM television said nine people died from the explosions and 99 were seriously injured.

Television pictures showed scores of bloodied people streaming into local hospitals after the explosions began at around 4:45 p.m. (1445 GMT) and lasted for over two hours.

"My house has been destroyed. One mortar struck the window and exploded inside," a shaken woman, Cheiza Langa, told Reuters.

The armoury is located near both the airport and the Malhazine residential district, about a kilometre from the city centre.

State radio quoted the defence ministry as saying hot temperatures, which hit a high of 36 degrees centigrade, were likely the cause.

It said around 20 tonnes of old military equipment was being stored at the armoury, where the explosions and fires engulfed parts of the city with thick smoke.

The incident marked the second time this year that high temperatures have set off explosions in the armoury, although when it happened in January no one died.

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