Beijing — Explosions that ripped through a crowded dormitory and other buildings in a gritty industrial city south of Beijing killed 108 people and injured 38, state-run television reported Saturday. Initial reports said the death toll was at least 18 people.
The TV reports provided no clues as to who set the four bombs, which exploded almost simultaneously before dawn Friday, or why. But they said police in Shijiazhuang were treating the blasts as a "criminal case" and that "criminal elements" were believed to be responsible.
Passersby look at an apartment building blown apart by one of a series of explosions in Shijiazhuang, China. At least four explosions occurred early Friday morning in dormitory buildings across Shijiazhuang, leaving more than 100 people dead.
The Shijiazhuang Daily published a photograph of a man wanted for murder, accompanied by a police all-points bulletin.The man, Jin Ruzhao, had a room in a dormitory where one bomb was set.
The bombs were apparently part of a pattern in the city, home to crumbling textile mills and state-owned enterprises, 150 miles southwest of Beijing. In September, sources from Shijiazhuang said, at least four small homemade bombs exploded at department stores or on buses, injuring 28 people. Li Yonghui, an unemployed worker who was accused of theft and blackmail, was executed by a bullet to the back of the head for the blasts.
A corruption investigation has already shaken the leadership of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing. The mayor of Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital, was recently forced to step down. And rumors are rife that Shijiazhuang, like many other industrial cities in China, has become home to rival gangs of organized criminals who battle for control or influence over city services.
The city also has thousands of unemployed workers, many with serious gripes against local authorities. One of the blasts occurred about a block from local Communist Party headquarters. Residents say demonstrations against layoffs, caused by the collapse of state-owned enterprises, are common in Shijiazhuang. So is the feeling that the party and the local government have profited from the collapse of state-owned firms.
The central government often has a difficult time determining what really happened in disasters because local government officials, concerned that they will be fined or arrested, or will lose their jobs, often distort the story.
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