BEIJING – Twin blasts rocked a high-rise in northeast China on Friday,killing one person and injuring another in an incident being treated as acriminal case, local authorities said.
The first blast happened at around 3:13 pm (0713 GMT) when the fire brigadereceived a report of a car explosion in an underground garage of the WandaPlaza in Changchun, the city’s government said in a statement posted onsocial media.
Three minutes later, a second explosion occurred in an office on the 30thfloor of the complex. An earlier statement said that blast left one dead.It was unclear where the second person was injured.
The Changchun government added that a criminal investigation has beenopened.
Eyewitnesses reported hearing over 20 explosions and people were evacuatedfrom buildings surrounding the Wanda Plaza Apartment, the state-run BeijingYouth Daily newspaper reported.
Social media footage showed a busy road shrouded in smoke as devicesexploded on the ground while people fled. Another video showed a blast onthe upper floors of a high-rise building.
AFP could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
– Past blasts –
Bomb explosions have occurred in China in recent years.
In June 2017, a bomb exploded outside a kindergarten in east Jiangsuprovince, killing eight people and injuring dozens. The explosion wasblamed on a 22-year-old introvert with health problems who died in theblast.
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Ethnic Uighurs from the restive far west region of Xinjiang have been tiedto mass stabbings and bombings that left dozens dead in recent years acrossthe country.
The unrest prompted authorities to launch a sweeping campaign againstterrorism and separatism that included the construction of what rightsgroups denounce as internment camps holding as many as one million Uighursand other mostly Muslim minorities.
The Chinese government describes the camps as vocational education centresaimed at combatting extremist thoughts and providing jobs.
Chinese authorities say no attacks have been committed in Xinjiang in thepast two years thanks to the strategy.
The Jilin incident also comes just over a week before the Lunar New Yearholiday, which the Chinese usually welcome with firecrackers and fireworks,sometimes resulting in accidents.
Last February, a fireworks explosion killed four and injured five insouthwestern Yunnan province.
In January 2006, 36 people were killed as they celebrated the Lunar NewYear at a temple festival in central China’s Henan province when fireworksexploded in an illegal factory storeroom nearby. – APP/AFP
