Suicide bomber kills 3 in land row

A woman suicide bomber killed three other people and injured 15 when she blew herself up yesterday while protesting against the forced demolition of her home in Yunnan's Qiaojia county.

Violent protests and suicides are increasingly common as people fight back against the requisitioning of land by local governments. But this is believed to be the first time a female suicide bomber has taken the lives of others to protest at a land grab.

Guangzhou-based rights lawyer Tang Jingling said it was a landmark incident. People had now realised that 'taking their own lives is no longer enough to stop bulldozers from destroying their homeland'.

Xinhua said four severely injured people had been taken to the provincial capital, Kunming , for advanced care, while the other 11 were being treated in Qiaojia. Citing local authorities, Xinhua said the bomb was set off at about 9am in the community office in the town of Baihetan.

Xinhua quoted a Kunming newspaper as saying the woman set off explosives she had taken into the demolition bureau inside the community office after she was asked to sign a house-relocation agreement.

The bomber and two staff of the bureau died on the spot. The identity of the fourth person who died is not yet known. Pictures posted online by mainland news portals showed debris scattered outside the office, including part of a limb, and a body on the floor.