ID :
13424
Tue, 07/22/2008 - 23:32
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/13424
The shortlink copeid
No evidence of terrorist link in China bus blasts, say police
BEIJING, July 22 Kyodo - Police say initial investigations have uncovered no evidence linking the two bus bombings in Kunming this week with terrorist groups or attempts to disrupt the Beijing Olympics, Chinese media reported Tuesday.
The city's head of police, Du Min, told a news conference that officers have so far found nothing to tie the attacks on Monday -- which killed two people -- with terrorism or Tibetan separatist activists, the China News Service news agency reported.
But Du said the explosions were ''certainly sabotage,'' although it is not clear who carried out the attacks or what the motive was, the report said.
Two explosive devices were left on two buses traveling on the No. 54 bus route in Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, on Monday morning.
A woman passenger of 30 was killed in the first blast and a man of 26 in the second.
Cases have been recorded of criminals, or people with grudges, planting bombs on buses in China, where industrial explosives are more easily obtainable than guns.
Sixteen people were killed in an explosion on a bus in Wuhan in central China in 1999 after a farm worker detonated a homemade device, apparently because he was angry that his girlfriend had left him.
Police chief Du also told journalists that newspaper reports in China saying that a text message had circulated in Kunming, warning of the bus attacks, were completely untrue.
''No such thing happened,'' he was quoted as saying by the China News Service.
A notice on the Kunming Public Security Bureau's website says the authorities are now offering 100,000 yuan ($14,600) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bomber.
The Chinese government has repeatedly warned that the Beijing Olympics are a potential target for terrorists.
A massive security operation is underway in the Chinese capital ahead of the Games next month, including police manning hundreds of checkpoints on roads leading into the city to check for guns and explosives.
The city's head of police, Du Min, told a news conference that officers have so far found nothing to tie the attacks on Monday -- which killed two people -- with terrorism or Tibetan separatist activists, the China News Service news agency reported.
But Du said the explosions were ''certainly sabotage,'' although it is not clear who carried out the attacks or what the motive was, the report said.
Two explosive devices were left on two buses traveling on the No. 54 bus route in Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, on Monday morning.
A woman passenger of 30 was killed in the first blast and a man of 26 in the second.
Cases have been recorded of criminals, or people with grudges, planting bombs on buses in China, where industrial explosives are more easily obtainable than guns.
Sixteen people were killed in an explosion on a bus in Wuhan in central China in 1999 after a farm worker detonated a homemade device, apparently because he was angry that his girlfriend had left him.
Police chief Du also told journalists that newspaper reports in China saying that a text message had circulated in Kunming, warning of the bus attacks, were completely untrue.
''No such thing happened,'' he was quoted as saying by the China News Service.
A notice on the Kunming Public Security Bureau's website says the authorities are now offering 100,000 yuan ($14,600) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bomber.
The Chinese government has repeatedly warned that the Beijing Olympics are a potential target for terrorists.
A massive security operation is underway in the Chinese capital ahead of the Games next month, including police manning hundreds of checkpoints on roads leading into the city to check for guns and explosives.
