Police detain man over bombings in north China city

BEIJING - Reuters

"Police found home-made explosive devices at his residence, and a large amount of evidence of his crimes," state television said. AFP photo

Chinese police have detained a man suspected of setting off several small bombs in front of a Communist Party building in the northern Chinese city of Taiyuan this week because he wanted "revenge on society", state media reported on Friday.

The suspect is Taiyuan native Feng Zhijun, 41, who had previously spent nine years in prison for theft, according to state media.
 
"Police found home-made explosive devices at his residence, and a large amount of evidence of his crimes," state television said. "Feng Zhijun fully confessed to the evidence of his crimes."
 
Feng "admitted to wanting to get revenge on society", it added, without elaborating.
 
Police caught him early on Friday and also seized a vehicle that they believe was used during the attacks, media said.
 
The central government sent a deputy minister of public security to lead the search, along with DNA and other experts, the report added, underscoring the government's sensitivity about any form of unrest.
 
Wednesday's bombings killed one person and wounded eight, according to state media reports. 
 
Such incidents are not uncommon in China and underscore the government's worries about stability in the world's second-largest economy, with a widening gap between rich and poor and growing anger at corruption and environmental problems.
 
The government blamed Islamists for an attack in Beijing last week when a car ploughed through bystanders on the edge of Tiananmen Square and burst into flames, killing three people in the car and two bystanders. 
 
The incidents come as China ramps up security before top leaders gather on Saturday for a plenum meeting in Beijing to discuss reforms. 
 
In 2011, a farmer bombed three government buildings in Fuzhou city in Jiangxi province after failing to get redress over seizure of his land. Two people and the farmer were killed.
 
A 42-year-old farmer with terminal lung cancer detonated a home-made device aboard a bus in Fujian province in 2005, wounding 31 and killing himself, possibly to protest against prohibitive healthcare costs.