Bus explosions kill 2, wound 14 in southwest China

The separate blasts went off in downtown Kunming city in southwest Yunnan province, the Yunnan Public Security Bureau said in a notice on its Web site.

They were deliberately set, it said. Photos on the Internet showed a bus with all its windows shattered and a gaping hole in its side.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a destroyed bus was seen in front of the Panjiawan bus stop, and broken glass was scattered in front.

The government has boosted national security to ensure a worry-free Olympics they say are a target for terrorism. Checks at subway stations and airports have increased, and anti-terrorist forces are being deployed to Olympic sites.Â

Police closed roads and set up checkpoints to prevent suspects from escaping, the police report said.

The first explosion occurred at 7:05 a.m. on public bus 54 on West Renmin road, and the second at 8:10 a.m. at a nearby intersection, the report said.

No further information was available. The Kunming police refused to comment, saying the information had been released in Xinhua reports.

Local officials throughout China have been told to avoid mass incidents or any signs of unrest before the games begin. Authorities in restive western Xinjiang province say they have foiled Islamic terrorist plots aimed at disrupting the Olympics. But rural protests have been on the rise in China, becoming a way to air grievances and anger at local governments.

Xinhua said Monday that the deputy secretary of the Yunnan provincial Communist Party, Li Jiheng, had flown to Menglian county near the border with Myanmar, where 500 locals had clashed with police on Saturday. Police killed two people, it said.

Last month, 30,000 rioters set fire to a police station and police cars in a small town in hilly Guizhou province, angry over an alleged cover-up of a local teenage girls death.

Photo: Reuters