China tightens mail security after deadly Guangxi parcel bomb attack
The mainland's postal service has ordered tighter checks on packages after a series of mail bombs that killed 11 people and injured 51 in the county of Liucheng in Guangxi province last week.
Mail carriers and overnight delivery services must conduct additional checks for explosives, dangerous chemicals, weapons, gunpowder and poisons, the State Post Bureau said on its website yesterday. Closer cooperation with police was also required, it said.
The statement alerted local police and authorities to be more vigilant during the ongoing week-long National Day holiday and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region - a sensitive time that might increase security problems.
The circular followed a series of 18 explosions in Liuzhou , Guangxi province last Wednesday and Thursday, which was blamed on a 33-year-old man, Wei Yinyong, who had long-standing disputes with neighbours and companies involved in stone quarrying.
The blasts hit a hospital, markets, a shopping mall, a bus station and several government buildings. Wei, identified by police as the sole suspect in the attacks, was confirmed dead in one of Wednesday's explosions, according to a local police report on Friday.
Besides Wei, another 10 villagers were killed in the explosions.
Police said the blasts were all caused by time bombs that Wei either delivered himself or sent by courier.
Liuzhou's postal service was halted from Wednesday to yesterday, with local authorities warning the public not to open parcels.
"It's still a mystery why Wei, who was just a stone quarry owner, was able to make so many powerful time bombs stealthily just by himself," Macau-based military expert Antony Wong Dong said, referring to an earlier report in which local police claimed they had identified a total of 60 suspicious courier parcels made by Wei.
The mainland has tight restrictions on the use of firearms, making bombs the frequent weapon of choice in revenge attacks.
The number of bombs used in the Guangxi attacks appeared unprecedented, however, especially considering that they were all delivered within the small county of Liucheng.
