Bus blasts kill three, injure 18 in south-west China (Roundup)

Jul 21, 2008, 11:43 GMT

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.