Deadly blasts 'not related to Olympics'

By Lydia Chen  |   2008-7-23  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

POLICE investigating two deadly bus explosions in a southwestern Chinese city had not found any links between the blasts and next month's Beijing Olympics, officials said yesterday.

Police in Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province, are offering a reward of 100,000 yuan (US$14,660) for any information that might lead to the arrest of those responsible for Monday's bus blasts that killed two people and injured 14 others.

Residents who took the No. 54 buses or who were near the bus routes on Monday have been urged to come forward as witnesses. Taxi drivers have also been asked to report if they noticed anything suspicious.

The first blast occurred when a No. 54 bus exploded after pulling over at the Panjiawan stop near the intersection of Renmin Road W. and Xichang Road about 7:10am. Just an hour later, a bomb exploded on another No. 54 bus around the same area.

A 29-year-old woman, Wang Dezhi, was killed and 10 others were injured in the first blast, Chen Shifei, 26, died in the second attack and four were hurt.

Kunming police said yesterday they had found no evidence linking the bus bombs to either the Games or Tibetan separatists.

The blasts were also not linked to last Saturday's unrest at a rubber plant in Mengliang County, said Du Min, deputy mayor of Kunming.

Du, also head of the city's public security bureau, said at a press conference yesterday that investigations into the blasts were continuing.

Du denied media reports which said a text message warned residents not to take buses just before the blasts. "There was no such warning message," Du said.

Some people reportedly received the bizarre message early on Monday just before the first attack occurred. The message referred to "ants" and urged people not to take certain buses, including the No. 54, Yunnan.cn, the official news Website portal of the province, said yesterday.