Blast from 'self-made' explosive injures five in Shanghai airport

SHANGHAI - Reuters

AP photo

A man set off a home-made explosive at a terminal in Shanghai's Pudong International Airport on June 12, the city's government said, injuring five people, including himself. 

The explosion occurred near the airport's Terminal Two ticketing area at about 2:20 p.m. and the people who were injured were taken away for medical treatment, the Shanghai government said in a short statement on its official microblog. 

"According to an initial police investigation, a man took self-made explosive materials in a beer bottle out of his backpack and threw it at ticketing counter," the government said. 

After the bottle exploded, he took out a knife and slashed his own neck, it said, adding that efforts to treat his "serious" injuries were underway. 

Another four people were lightly injured by exploding glass, it said. The incident was under investigation and only the three flights in that ticketing area had been affected. 

Unverified pictures on China's Weibo microblog showed a person on a gurney being wheeled away by medical attendants and a pool of blood on the floor. 

A Reuters reporter at the airport said police in explosion-resistant suits were searching luggage, but that travellers could freely enter the building. 

Explosives are relatively easy to obtain in China, home to the world's largest mining and fireworks industries. 

A man in a wheelchair detonated a home-made explosive at  Beijing's international airport in 2013, injuring himself in what was an apparent attempt to draw attention to an earlier grievance. 

Individual Chinese unable to win redress in disputes have in the past resorted to extreme measures, including bombings, but such incidents are rare amid the tight security at the country's airports.