Beijing - At least three people died and up to 18 were
injured in three separate explosions on public buses on Monday in the
south-western Chinese city of Kunming, the government and state media
reported.
Police announced a preliminarily conclusion that the first two
explosions were deliberate, while local media said evidence of bombs
and timing devices was found on the buses.
The city government said in a statement that the first two
explosions left two people dead and 14 injured, one of them
seriously.
Provincial authorities in Yunnan, of which Kunming is the capital,
ordered transport officials to tighten security by 'increasing
patrols and installing new checkpoints to prevent the perpetrators
from fleeing,' the official Xinhua news agency said.
The agency said border guards had tightened security at all exit
and entry points in Yunnan, which has long borders with Myanmar
(Burma), Laos and Vietnam.
Two explosions hit number 54 buses at different locations in
Kunming early Monday morning, with the first blast reported just
after 7 am and the second about one hour later.
At least one person died and 10 were injured in the first
explosion, while the second blast killed one and injured four,
reports said.
Witness Zhang Lin told the agency that she was startled by a 'huge
bang' when she heard the first explosion.
'At first, I took it for an earthquake,' Zhang was quoted as
saying.
'But soon I looked through an office window and saw the left side
of a bus was blown off,' she said.
'At that time, there were a dozen people waiting at the bus stop,
but it was not easy to tell how many were inside the bus,' Zhang
said.
The Kunming-based Shenghuo Xinbao newspaper said one of the
injured people had died in hospital later on Monday.
A third explosion injured at least four people on a bus plying the
K2 route through Kunming, the newspaper said.
The explosions were apparently caused by bombs fitted with timers,
it said.
But the city government and other state media did not report the
third explosion.
Other state media showed photographs and video of extensive damage
to windows and panelling near the front of one of the buses.
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