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Report of blast in China kindergarten

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/c...ion-children-reportedly-injured-blast-n772711

BEIJING — An explosion struck the entrance to a kindergarten in eastern China on Thursday, police said.

State media said there were casualties, and videos purportedly from the scene and posted on social media showed children and adults lying on the ground. Some were bleeding.

Police said they were investigating but offered no word on injuries or deaths. However state media reported at least seven dead and 59 injured as a result of the blast.

The blast struck at 4:50 p.m. local time (4:50 a.m. ET) Thursday in the city of Fengxian in Jiangsu province.

A cellphone camera video posted on the website of the official People's Daily newspaper showed more than a dozen people lying motionless in front of the kindergarten's steel sliding gate, with clothing, shoes and other items strewn on the ground beside pools of blood.

It also showed ambulances arriving and medics wheeling people into an emergency room.


The explosion occurred in the Chinese city of Fengxian. Google Maps
It wasn't clear whether the blast was an accident or was deliberately set. The newspaper Xiandaikuaibao on its website cited an unidentified witness as saying the explosion appeared to have been linked to a bottle of cooking gas.

Kindergartens in China have been targeted before in apparent revenge attacks carried out by people bearing grudges against their neighbors and society.

That has prompted a tightening of security around many schools, with the posting of guards equipped with truncheons and the installation of gates and other barriers.

China maintains tight control over firearms and most attacks are carried out using knives, axes or homemade explosives
 
Those poor children. RIP. My thoughts to the victims and those affected.
 
Just checked, it's confirmed. An explosion struck the entrance to a kindergarten in Fengxian city (Jiangsu province), 5 hours ago. 7 dead, 66 injured. Since kindergarten was still at school hour, so no casualties with students or teachers. Cause of explosion (accident, terrorism or any others) now under police investigation, cannot be confirmed at this point.

http://society.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0615/c1008-29342527.html
 
Those targeting children are the worst scum on earth.

Lets not jump to conclussions.

One of witnesses said cooking gas... A large canister of gas that is connected to a stove I guess? I feel paranoid around those, always having a feeling I will get blown the out.
 
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Does not look like a terrorist attack, some sources have reported it as gas cylinder blast. Given that blast video posted doesnt show any blood on the ground that must be the case.
 
Lets not jump to conclussions.

One of witnesses said cooking gas... A large canister of gas that is connected to a stove I guess? I feel paranoid around those, always having a feeling I will get blown the out.

China police blame lone bomber for killing 8 at kindergarten gate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...dae94ed3eb7_story.html?utm_term=.60edf3d590a4

BEIJING — Chinese police said Friday they believe that a 22-year-old school dropout planted a homemade explosive device outside a kindergarten, killing eight people, including himself, although his motive remains unclear.

The explosion took place at 4:48 p.m. on Thursday outside a kindergarten in the city of Xuzhou in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, as mothers were gathered at the school gates to pick up their children.

There was initially some speculation the incident might have been caused by a gas cylinder from a street side food vendor, but it now appears the explosion will go down as the latest in a long series of puzzling and disturbing attacks on young children in China in recent years, perpetrated by people with grievances against society or with mental health issues.

The attacks on children are perhaps even more troubling in a society where many parents only have one child, thanks to four decades of draconian family planning policies.

“The explosion was caused by a homemade explosive device,” Pei Jun, the deputy head of Jiangsu public security office told a news conference, blaming a man he named only as Xu who died at the site.

Police said their investigation, together with DNA testing, had helped identify Xu, who they said had dropped out of school with autonomic nervous dysfunction, a disorder that can cause heart and breathing problems, and who went on to work and live near the kindergarten.

“Materials for making an explosive device were found at his room, and words such as ‘die’ were written on the wall,” Pei said. “At this point we believe the case is solved.”


Police said 65 people were wounded in the attack, eight seriously, of whom four remain in critical condition. Many appeared to be mothers.

Videos circulating on social media showed women lying on the ground among pools of blood, some motionless and others barely moving.

The attack happened before the children were let out of the school, the authorities said, saying no teachers or pupils were among the victims. But one video showed two very young children among the wounded — one cradled in a mother’s arms and another lying on the ground — who may have been waiting for elder siblings to emerge from the school.

Clothes and shoes were also seen strewn across the ground.

Although the videos could not be verified, they appeared to be from the same location as other footage posted by state media, which showed ambulances arriving, stretchers being wheeled out and police securing the scene.

Sociologists blame the pressures of a society undergoing rapid change for the attacks on schools and young children, with rising inequality and huge pressures on young people to compete and succeed.

A lack of support for the mentally ill, and a dysfunctional legal system, where people who feel they have been treated unfairly or have suffered injustice have few avenues to seek amends, are also thought to be possible causes.

Police said two people died at the scene and six died at hospital.

Li Meijin, a professor in the department of criminology at the People’s Public Security University of China in Beijing, said many of the attackers appear to the men in the prime of their life, who may be struggling to cope with pressure or difficulties in their lives.

“Socially isolated individuals are more likely to commit crimes,” she added. “If they can’t get effective help, or there’s no good way for them to vent their feelings, they may become reckless in desperation, and take revenge on society.”

“I am wondering if we should have more ways for people to file a complaint or appeal,” she added.

Last month, six Chinese children and six South Koreans, all aged between three and seven, died after their kindergarten bus driver lit a fire on his bus, police said. The man was apparently angry that his overtime and night shift pay had been cut, police told state media.

But with China maintaining strict control on firearms, most of the other attacks have involved knives or other sharp implements, such as last year’s attack on an elementary school in northern China that left seven children wounded.

Between 2010 and 2012, there were at least nine separate attacks on elementary school children in China, which left at least 25 people dead and more than 100 wounded, with weapons including knives, a hammer, an axe, a cleaver and a box-cutter.

Police ascribed motives ranging from an employment dispute to a disgruntled suitor spurned by a woman, as well as simply blaming mental illness.

Those attacks prompted the government and schools to beef up security, posting guards and installing gates and barriers outside schools, and on Friday the Ministry of Education issued a fresh directive instructing schools to carry out a “comprehensive investigation of security risks.”

Among other things, it said schools should look at former personnel who may have been dismissed, individuals with mental illness and illegal street stalls in the vicinity.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Waow!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash">#BREAKING</a>: Moment of huge explosion at a kindergarten in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Fengxian?src=hash">#Fengxian</a> in eastern <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash">#China</a> <a href="https://t.co/xAET5h2HIg">pic.twitter.com/xAET5h2HIg</a></p>&mdash; Berfo كردي (@Ararat_Krd) <a href=" ">June 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Latest: The blast occurred at 4:48 pm at the gate of the kindergarten, 2 people died at the scene, another 6 died later in hospital, 65 people were injured. The blast happened when students and teachers were still inside the school, most casualties are believed to be parents waiting outside the gate and nearby pedestrians. The police have preliminarily identified the blast as a criminal offense, ruling out terrorist attack. Blast done done by a homemade explosive device, lone crime suspect identified as a 22 year old male, also killed in the blast. Criminal motive now under police investigation.

Original link (Chinese) http://china.huanqiu.com/article/2017-06/10853293.html
 

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