Explosions Rock Communist Party Office, One Dead
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Date: 11/6/2013 6:33:35 AM
Sender: VOA
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People look at the scene after explosions outside the Shanxi Provincial Communist Party office building in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, Nov. 6, 2013.
BEIJING — Chinese authorities said several homemade bombs exploded outside a provincial Communist Party office in northern China Wednesday, killing at least one person and injuring eight others.
Police in China’s northern Shanxi province said that shortly before 8:00 AM in the morning Wednesday, a series of homemade bombs went off in succession sending metal balls and other shrapnel flying.
Pictures of the damage posted online shortly after the incident showed multiple vehicles with minor damage, such as windows blown out. Several individuals held metal balls, some about the size of grape that flew through metal car doors and shattered windows.
The official Xinhua News Agency said that in addition to the steel balls, circuit boards were also found scattered around the scene of the explosions. The agency says police believe improvised explosive devices or IEDs were used.
In one video of a blogger speaking with an eyewitness that was posted on China’s video sharing site Youku, a Shanxi resident said an elderly women was struck with shrapnel from the blast a good distance from where the incident occurred.
The man told the blogger in the video that he heard seven explosions and that three of them were in succession. Others, the man said, just came one after the other.
Other postings on China’s social media network Weibo also spoke of an elderly woman who was hit while escorting a child to school, but authorities and state-run media have yet to release any details about those injured.
The police have also not given any clues as to who might be responsible or what the possible motive might be. Several hours after the blast authorities said the situation in front of the provincial Communist Party office in Shanxi’s capital of Taiyuan had returned to normal.
The incident comes just a week after a family of three carried out what China said was a terrorist attack in Tiananmen Square.
Although Wednesday’s attack appeared to be more sophisticated than others seen in China in the past, social unrest and acts of violence targeting authorities are not uncommon in China.
Earlier this year, in a smaller county south of Taiyuan a man used explosives to blast a residential compound for tax officials. According to state media, the blast killed the daughter of a local law enforcement official.
One big difference, however, is that both the incident in Tiananmen Square last week and Wednesday’s blasts outside party offices, come at a time when China is preparing to hold a crucial Communist Party meeting. The meeting is expected to chart out economic and other reforms in China over the next 5-10 years.
China’s Foreign Ministry, Hong Lei, responded, when asked what it makes of the recent acts of violence and whether they are evidence of social unrest ahead of the party’s upcoming meeting: Hong said Chinese authorities are investigating the incident in Shanxi province and police have already given a clear conclusion on the violent terrorist attack in Tiananmen Square. He added that the upcoming meetings are important for the opening up and reform of China.
In the run up to the party meeting, China has been tightening security and working to create a harmonious environment to ensure the meetings go smoothly.
State media released reports quickly after the blast occurred Wednesday, and unlike the incident in Tiananmen Square, did not immediately launch a massive effort to censor postings of the blasts online.
China’s main national broadcaster CCTV News, however, was silent on the incident. CCTV Chinese opened its main evening broadcast with 10 minutes of stories about the ongoing controversy surrounding the United States’ surveillance programs headed up by the National Security Agency. |
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