Nine people were killed by a nail bomb in a farmers' market in the central China province of Hunan and 65 injured, local media reported yesterday.
The bombing, which occurred on Monday, was the fourth in a series of serious terrorist incidents in China in the past month, and appears linked to a wave of protests by peasants and workers in the region.
The device exploded shortly after 11 a.m. outside the offices of the Yizhang county government, a police official said. A doctor from the traditional medicine hospital who treated some of the casualties said they were lacerated by nails.
Nearby trees were covered with scraps of clothing from the victims, and thick black smoke choked the area, according to the Yangchang Evening News. The explosion has once again highlighted simmering discontent in China over corruption and loss of jobs, as well as falling farm incomes.
This has alarmed the government, especially as 1999 is a sensitive year, with the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4th and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Communist government on October 1st.
Though weapons are not readily available to civilians in China, explosives are easily available at thousands of small-scale coal mines around the country.
In Hunan, many state factories have shut or have not paid workers and pensioners for months, and last year there were no less than 60 mass protests in Changsha and 20 cases of roads being blocked, according to the Hunan Economic Daily.
In the same province on January 17th, a crude sulphur and nitrogen bomb exploded on a bus injuring 37 people. A passenger was seen to set fire to a package as he got off the bus in the centre of the provincial capital, Changsha, shortly before the vehicle exploded. One farmer was killed and 100 injured in the clash between security forces and 4,000 people protesting about high taxes and corruption in the nearby town of Daolin, according to the reports, emanating from a Hong Kong human rights group.
In another incident a few days later, more than 500 laid-off workers blocked a strategic key road bridge in the nearby city of Changde, demanding back pay and an end to corruption at the local state-run cotton plant.
The most serious incident occurred on January 6th when a high-powered bomb ripped apart a bus in the northeastern province of Liaoning, killing 19 of more than 40 passengers.