Posted on 07/09/2005 12:31:10 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
/begin my translation
China: Bomb Explodes at the Beijing Station Square...No Injuries
2005.07.09
(Seoul, Yonhap News) A day after the a series of bomb explosions in London which left the whole world still tense, a bomb went off at the square of Beijing Train Station, which appears to be a premeditated act. Chinese authorities are on heightened alert.
The incident happened at a time when Chinese securities, affected by London's multiple bombings, are stepping up their watch against possible terrorism by separatists from Uighur Autonomous District in Xinjiang.
It occurred around 1:40 pm, July 8th, on the Western part of the square, but there were no casualties, according to July 9th Internet edition of Jing-hua-shi-bao, a sister newspaper of People's Daily, the official newspaper of Chinese Communist Party.
According to the newspaper, the explosive power of bomb, which was inside a box to hold fruits, was relatively weak, causing no casualties. Still, after the incident, the police brought in huge amount of investigation hardwares and bomb-sniffing dogs at the site. They found an alarm clock and electric wires inside the box.
A vendor selling refreshments, who does his business about 20 m away from the explosion site, said, "The box was at the edge of flower bed in front of a (train) ticket counter, and people sat along the flower bed, resting. Then, it suddenly went off with a 'bang.' The sound of explosion was not loud, but did have the resting people stunned and run away."
According to him, the explosion blew off the lid of the box, and spewed out some trash, filling the air with the burning smell of trash. However, the explosion was not really powerful. A cigarette butt which was inside the box was thrown only 1 m away (after the explosion.)
A day before this incident, on July 7th, at a square in Chao-yang district, a downtown area of Beijing, a knapsack with a suspected hand grenade, was found, prompting the dispatch of a bomb disposal unit to the scene.
Jing-hua-shi-bao did not go into the nature of this bombing incident at the station square. However, it said that the bomb's design is similar to the one found in last April at Xin-shi-jie Department Store near Chong-wen-men, Beijing.
After the news of London bombing was reported locally 11 am on July 7th, Beijing police conducted evacuation and fire drill around the underground supermarket at Xin-shi-jie Department Store for an hour, doing training for terrorist bombings and fire. This scared many customers (in the area) , who was not aware that it was a drill, according to the Internet edition of another newspaper Xin-jing-bao.
/end my translation
Regardless of rather amateur design of the bomb, it is noteworthy that such a thing has occurred in Beijing at the broad daylight in light of many recent social unrests in China.
Ping!
What makes you think a crackdown is coming?
Falun gong?
Al Qaeda is in China. Can't remember where I read it but there are groups there with ties to AQ. But a wimpy explosive device sounds like amateurs.
Issue arrest warrants now!
You know, there have been many social unrests over lands, labor condition, pollution, or officials/cops abusing common people. It does not show the sign of receding. Besides, their economy is going to get worse, due to many factors, pushing many folks off to the street.
Under this situation, Chinese regime could want to tighten their hold on population. Uighur separatist bombing in Beijing could serve as a convenient pretext to ratchet up tension and clamp down any disgruntled people.
They don't want to have Olympic Game while the whole country is enveloped in non-stop civil unrest, do they?
It seems that this particular bombing does not appear to be the work of an well-organized group, just based on this press report.
This would widen the range of suspects. I think even one guy can do it.
They just need to cater to a beef friendly diet and with the pork decrease in the diet the bombs will dissipate much faster with a lesser effect.
ping
Under this situation, Chinese regime could want to tighten their hold
on population. Uighur separatist bombing in Beijing could serve as a
convenient pretext to ratchet up tension and clamp down any
disgruntled people.
They don't want to have Olympic Game while the whole country is
enveloped in non-stop civil unrest, do they?<<<<<
Good thinking, makes sense.
It makes one think that several countries will use the London bombs as a good excuse to do what they had already planned.
Regardless who is the cause, we know dang well that the Chinese will crackdown and stop the problem (albeit, commie-style). If only we could do so with such efficiency, or even just a fraction. Hell, we (being our government and MSM) cannot even point the finger at the culprits. Don't want to hurt any feelings when they hurt and kill our people.
Probably not Uighurs. While it's certain that the Uighurs have ties to Al Queda, the Chinese have extensive internal travel restrictions in place that make it almost impossible for Uighurs to travel to the major eastern cities. Even if an Uighur terrorist could somehow make it the thousand-plus miles across the country without being caught by the military or internal police, the fact that the Uighur are a completely different racial stock than the ethnic Chinese would make one of them stick out like a sore thumb in Beijing. An Uighur would be as conspicuous as a white person, and one dropping a mysterious package would certainly be noticed.
That is most likely.
Yes, as Pakistani and Iranian guests of the Chinese government.
Bombs in China are a dime a dozen. They aren't allowed arms but explosives are readily available.
A bomb like this is not likely part of the civil war there in the PRC.
While the Chinese Communists certainly do use such tactics, they really don't need to use "pretexts" for crackdowns like our Western governments do (Did I say that?). When the Communists WANT a crackdown...they just crack down. Plus, the Chinese are much better at creating shows than this: what appears to be not much more than a heavy cherry bomb in a vegetable box.
A cigarette butt which was inside the box was thrown only 1 m away (after the explosion.)
A "bomb" that throws a cigarette butt 3 feet?
I think that someone misplaced their fireworks.
........."It makes one think than several countries will use the London bombs as a good excuse to do what they already planned."..........
Very good point, Ruth.
Chinese firecracker?
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