Mystery bus blasts kill three in China ahead of Olympics

21.07.08

Three people have been killed in two explosions that ripped through two buses this morning in China’s southwestern city of Kunming. Police said the blasts were set deliberately but had yet to identify any suspects. The attack comes just three weeks before the opening of the Beijing Olympics, which the authorities have warned could be a target for terrorist attacks. Such violence is rare in China, which has a reputation as one of the safest countries in the world – in part because of the powers wielded by the police.

The first explosion rocked a bus just after 7am as it was plying its route through the town known as the City of Eternal Spring for its balmy climate. Two people were killed and nine wounded in that first blast. Just about one hour later, another blast tore through another Number 54 bus on the same route, killing one person and wounding four.

Television footage showed a gaping hole in the side of one of the buses and glass scattered in the street. A spokesoman for the Yunnan province Public Security Bureau said: “According to preliminary investigations, the explosions were cases of man-made, deliberate sabotage." Police said they expected to give details later in the day. It was not clear what caused the blast.

China has occasionally witnessed bus explosions staged by disgruntled farmers or laid-off workers wanting to air grievances over poverty, demolitions or corruption. The Kunming blasts came two days after Yunnan police opened fire and killed two rubber farmers in the province's Menglian county in a clash that also saw 41 police officers injured. The clash was sparked when police tried to arrest five people in Menglian for allegedly attacking a local rubber company in a long-running dispute between farmers and the private firm, state media said.

SOURCE: Times Online, 21 July 2008