Blast outside US embassy in China wounds suspect
The assailant, 26, detonated a homemade bomb and is the only casualty, since bomb exploded before reaching its destination; The reason behind the attack is unclear.
A bomb exploded outside the US embassy's main compound in Beijing Thursday, injuring only the hand of the 26 year-old lone assailant, the embassy said in a statement.
The Chinese police described the weapon merely as a "firework device". No damage was done to embassy property and no other injuries were recorded. Not long after the incident, life in the area returned to normal.
The explosion happened at about 1 pm Beijing time, in a public space off the southeast corner of the embassy compound, the US embassy said.
The Beijing Police Department posted a statement on its website identifying the suspect only by his surname, Jiang, and said he was a native of Tongliao city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.
Police did not provide a motive for the attack, but China and the United States have been involved in an escalating trade dispute initiated by the Trump administration after the two sides imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of each other's goods.
The explosion sounded hundreds of meters away from where it had taken place. Witnesses told reporters that they heard an explosion near the embassy and felt tremors.
A police SUV appeared to have been damaged, with its back windshield missing, and was cordoned off by police before being removed, a witness said.
Crowds were still queuing outside the embassy after the explosion and traffic was moving slowly as normal, in an area of northeastern Beijing that is home to numerous embassies including those of France, India and Israel.
Posts on social media showed pictures of smoke close to where people line up outside the embassy's compound for visa appointments. Some video clips and images were later removed.
Staff members at the Indian and South Korean embassies said they were unaware of any unusual incident and continued their work as normal.
In what appears to be a false report, The Global Times, a newspaper run by the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily, reported earlier that the Chinese police had removed a woman who had sprayed herself with gasoline in a suspected self-immolation attempt. Neither the Chinese police nor the US embassy had any comment on the report.
