Hong Kong protests: home-made bomb aimed to kill or maim police officers, force says as it condemns weekend of intensified violence and attacks
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- Only officers trained in the use of pepper spray will be eligible to carry it during off-hours, and its use will be governed by the force’s guidelines
Radicals detonated a home-made explosive remotely on Sunday with the intent of killing and maiming police officers, the force revealed yesterday as it condemned the weekend’s escalation of protest violence, during which an officer was also slashed in the neck and two others severely assaulted.
Deploring the “life-threatening, reckless and ruthless” acts of violence unleashed on the city’s officers, the force also described the explosive attack as being “similar to terrorist acts around the world”. No one was injured in the incident.
At a press conference, Superintendent Suryanto Chin-chiu of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Bureau, who compared the attempt to terrorism, said the intensity and range of such devices were hard to estimate and could cause serious injury. “This is an escalation of the use of explosives, with only one motive, which is to kill and maim officers in the field,” he said.
A police source told the Post the device comprised of a mobile phone, a circuit board, a battery and some high-powered explosives, the ingredients of which still needed to be examined.
The use of a mobile phone showed the bomb was targeted at police, as the culprits could control the timing of the detonation.
“We are worried that this was only an experiment, as the damage caused this time was small. If you want to target a police van, you wouldn’t have caused just a loud bang. They may use a larger quantity of the explosives next time,” he said.