Two people were killed yesterday in explosions aboard two public buses in a major Chinese city that were deliberately set off, police said, in an incident likely to heighten Olympic security concerns.
The blasts occurred about an hour apart during morning rush hour traffic in downtown Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, the city’s police department said in a statement.
“According to preliminary investigations, the explosions were cases of man-made, deliberate sabotage,” a spokesman with the Yunnan Public Security Bureau said by telephone, without giving further details.
The incidents add to tensions ahead of next month’s Beijing Olympics, stoked by repeated warnings from the Chinese government about a dire terrorism threat facing the Games.
The government also has expressed deep concern about social unrest marring its efforts to portray the country as “harmonious and stable” ahead of the Olympics, amid recent violent protests in Yunnan and elsewhere.
The first blast occurred at about 7am when the vehicle was at a bus stop, killing one woman and injuring 10 other people, the statement from Kunming police said.
“The glass on both sides of the vehicle was all shattered and some of the seats were warped,” it said.
The second blast came about an hour later on the same road and killed one man, injuring four others, the statement said.
Footage broadcast on state-run television showed a large hole blown in the side of one of the buses and extensive damage to its interior.
Photos posted on the Yunnan Daily Web site showed one of the vehicle’s windows blown out by the blast and shattered glass on the road.
Following the blasts, police cordoned off some streets in the area and carried out identity checks in a search for any “suspicious” persons, the Yunnan Public Security Bureau said in a statement.
Kunming has a population of just over 6 million people and is about 2,100km southwest of Beijing.
China has dramatically tightened security in Beijing and throughout the country ahead of the Olympics — which begin on Aug. 8 — amid concerns over terrorism and social unrest.
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