Big Mac attack in China
[ One Dead, 30 Injured in Blast at McDonald's in China
BEIJING (Reuters) - An explosion ripped through a McDonald's restaurant during the busy dinner hour in China's western city of Xi'an on Saturday, killing one person and injuring as many as 30, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Local reporters quoted a police statement as saying the blast was deliberately set off, calling it ``intentional sabotage,'' but they gave no motive for the attack, which left two of the injured in a critical condition.
Officials told reporters they suspected the blast was triggered deliberately by the sole person killed in the explosion, whom they identified as from the city of Chongqing -- some 370 miles south of Xi'an.
Police blocked off two major streets through the center of the city after the blast, which left the restaurant littered with debris and half-eaten meals.
Hospital officials said they treated up to 30 people, many with ear and eye injuries. Police, city and fire officials contacted by Reuters declined to comment.
Xi'an is home to a sizeable ethnic Uighur Muslim population. Uighur separatists have been responsible for a series of bombings in western China, but it was not immediately known if they played any role in Saturday's explosion.
The ancient city of Xi'an is the site of China's famed terracotta warriors, a major tourist attraction.
The incident follows 23 explosions which struck two cities in the southern province of Guangdong -- Zhanjiang and Jiangmen -- on Friday which killed five people and injured seven others.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted police as saying a single man, Lin Guojian, targeted his former brother-in-law and his relatives, as well as others involved in business disputes with him. Lin killed himself in one of the explosions, it said.
Bombing incidents are on the rise in China, where explosives are cheap and easy to buy. They are often blamed on spurned lovers or disgruntled workers.
In March, blasts at a dormitory in the northern industrial city of Shijiazhuang killed more than 100 people in an incident police blamed on a man driven by jealousy and revenge. ]
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