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China city tense after bus blasts
2008-07-22
BEIJING - One of China's largest cities remained tense Tuesday after two people were killed in bus explosions, state media reported, with authorities yet to explain who was behind the blasts. After the powerful blasts Monday on two public buses in downtown Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan province, police beefed up security at airports and highways, the China Daily said. "It has reminded us beyond any doubt that terrorist crime can strike very close to home," Bai Yansong, an influential political commentator, told state TV. "It's not enough that the state takes strong preventive measures -- we ourselves may also have to strengthen consciousness about prevention." The explosions have come at the worst possible time for Chinese authorities, as they strive to extinguish what they say are dire terrorist threats before next month's Olympic Games in Beijing. Fourteen people were injured in the blasts, including a woman who had sustained life-threatening injuries and was being treated at a local intensive care unit. In the hours after the explosions, bus passengers showed extra vigilance, and in one case evacuated after an unidentified bag was discovered. It later turned out an earlier passenger had forgotten the bag when he got off. Taxi companies reported brisk business as people avoided buses, although by Tuesday the situation was almost back to normal, local taxi drivers said. "Monday more people took taxis, but today they're back on the buses," said an employee at Kunming Tourist Reception Taxi Co., identifying himself only by his surname Zhang as he spoke to AFP by telephone from Kunming. State media reported that police had been able to obtain certain clues about the culprit behind the explosions in the city of six million. Investigators said the people behind the blasts had used ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound that they said is generally used by the military, according to the China Daily. The paper also quoted a witness on one of the buses targeted in the explosions as saying "a short man" got off just before the blast, leaving behind a black plastic bag. Police have yet to give a full explanation for the blasts, other than to say they were deliberately set off.
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