A homemade bomb exploded near the Legislative Yuan at 10:24pm Saturday. Nobody was injured. Nevertheless the sensitive location of the bomb has prompted heightened police concern.
According to a Legislative Yuan surveillance tape, a male suspect placed a paper bag on the sidewalk of Qingdao E. Road (青島東路) which borders the Legislative Yuan at 10:17pm. At 10:24pm, an explosion was heard. At 10:31 a small fire was reported and police from the legislative building went, with a fire extinguisher, to put it out. At first they though the source of the fire was an electrical transformer. As they approached the site to extinguish the fire another explosion occurred, scattering debris about the area.
After the police re-examined the scene, they confirmed that the source of explosion was a homemade bomb instead of the transformer. The Legislative Yuan police immediately informed Taipei City Police Headquarter's Chungcheng First Precinct (中正一分局).
The explosion site was cordoned off and investigators from the Chungcheng First Precinct responded to the scene.
Police said the homemade bomb was comprised of three gas cans, two AA batteries, an electronic timepiece and wires placed in an eggroll iron container. The suspect also put a box of dog excrement with the bomb inside the paper bag.
According to the surveillance tape, the explosion took place several minutes after the male suspect left the scene. The bomb could be set off by hand, the police said.
After the explosion, the sidewalk was spattered with excrement. The stink filled the air near the Legislative Yuan.
The police judged that the bomb might be intended to taunt politicians and alarm the public. The police said they did not exclude the possibility of the suspect being motivated by political dissatisfaction.
On May 20, another explosion took place at a mobile lavatory on Gongyuan Rd. (公園路) near the 228 Peace Memorial Park.
The police are investigating if there is a link between these two explosions and gathering information to identify the perpetrator.
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