Chinese Autonomous Region Rocked by Bombings

Liucheng County, in China’s southern Guangxi Autonomous Region, suffered a series of 15 bombings targeting various public, mostly government buildings, leaving 7 dead so far and more than 50 injured, many of them fighting for their life.

The bombs began detonating at around 3.50 pm local time and targets included a shopping mall, prison, a county government office, supermarket, transport station, hospital, staff dormitory, vegetable market and center for disease control.

The government has denied that it was a terrorist attack, and have put the county under curfew. Police are claiming that the bombs were parcel bombs, and have stopped deliveries and warned people not to open packages. They have arrested a 33 year old man in relation to the incident. Chinese authorities have claimed that the motivation is likely a ‘medical dispute’. Tomorrow is October 1st, the National Day of the Peoples Republic of China.

There is some skepticism regarding the Chinese government’s official statements among the global intelligence community. The number of explosions and the extent of damage points to a well-coordinated operation, and explosives unlikely to be delivered as ‘package bombs’. Preliminary analysis by  Stratfor Global Intelligence posits this and the location of Liucheng on Uighur smuggling network trails connecting the Uighur ethnic minority with Thailand via Vietnam as possible pointers .

Sources: Xinhua, Weibo

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