BEIJING (AFP) — Two bus explosions that killed two people and injured 14 in a southwestern Chinese city on Monday were deliberate acts, police said.
"According to preliminary investigations, the explosions were cases of man-made, deliberate sabotage," a spokesman with the Yunnan province Public Security Bureau told AFP.
The blasts occurred about an hour apart during the peak morning traffic rush in downtown Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, according to an earlier statement released by the city's Public Security Bureau.
The first blast occurred about "about 7:00 am" (2300 GMT Sunday) when the vehicle was at a bus stop, killing one person and injuring 10 others, the police statement said.
The second came about an hour later on the same road and killed one person, injuring four, according to the statement.
Photos of one of the damaged buses that were posted on the Yunnan Daily website showed the vehicle's windows blown out by the blast and shattered glass on the road.
The police statement and the Yunnan public security spokesman gave no further details as to why they thought the explosions were deliberate acts.
Kunming has a population of just over six million people and is about 2,100 kilometres (1,300 miles) southwest of Beijing.
The incidents add to tensions ahead of next month's Beijing Olympics, amid repeated warnings from the Chinese government about a dire terrorism threat for the Games.
The government is also concerned about social unrest marring its efforts to portray the country as "harmonious and stable" ahead of the Olympics, as there have been violent protests in Yunnan and elsewhere recently.
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