Another blast hits Chinese city where explosions killed 7

BEIJING — An explosion damaged a six-storey building today (Oct 1) in southern China, less than a day after more than a dozen blasts triggered by explosive devices delivered in mail packages killed at least seven people and injured over 50 in the same county in southern China, officials and state media said.

The latest blast hit a civilian’s house near a highway administration bureau in Liucheng in Guangxi region, which borders Vietnam, but it was not immediately known if there were any casualties, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The Ministry of Public Security said it was treating the blasts yesterday as a criminal act, and not terrorism. It said a 33-year-old local man, identified only by his family name of Wei, was considered a suspect, but provided no further details, including a possible motive or whether the man had been detained. Local media reported that the suspect had been apprehended.

Xinhua said that the suspect had hired others to help deliver the bombs.

A local Communist Party newspaper, the Guangxi Daily, cited police as saying there were 17 explosions yesterday afternoon in Liucheng, leaving seven people dead, two missing and 51 injured.

Yesterday’s explosions, which occurred between 3.15 pm. and 5pm, hit a hospital, local markets, a shopping mall, a bus station and several government buildings, including a jail and dormitories for government workers, according to a police statement posted by the local newspaper Nanguo Zaobao.

“There were so many of them, and they were so loud, everyone in (Liucheng) could hear them,” said a hotel employee who gave only his family name, Li. The hotel is near a township office building that was hit by one of the explosions.

“They sounded like someone was blasting rocks in the mountains,” Mr Li said.

Mr Zhou Changqing, the police chief for the city of Liuzhou, which has jurisdiction over Liucheng, said the blasts were triggered by explosive devices delivered in several mail packages, state broadcaster CCTV reported. AP