China blast at Beijing airport terminal

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

There has been an explosion at Beijing Capital International Airport's Terminal 3, with a man in a wheelchair apparently detonating a device.

Photos posted on China's Weibo microblogging site showed a dark-haired man waving a white package in the air before the blast.

Later images showed the wheelchair on its side with officials treating a man on the floor.

His condition was unclear. Smoke spread through the terminal after the blast.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23388448

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Wow.

[davidpdx]

1. While it's too early to say for sure

It sounds like this is domestic event, someone was not happy with the Chinese Government.

Edit:

Explosion rocks Beijing airport in China, witness says

By Ed Flanagan and Ian Johnston, NBC News

An explosion hit Beijing airport in China on Saturday, prompting police to order people to leave one terminal, a witness said.
Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, of the International Crisis Group think tank, was at the airport when the blast happened at about 6:30 p.m. local time (6:30 a.m. ET).

“Huge explosion followed by panic, smoke and dust at Terminal 3,” she said on Twitter.

“Lots of excitement, police v angry, shouted crowds back and told everyone to leave,” she added.
She posted a photograph of the scene, showing the air clouded with dust after the blast:






http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/20/19578743-explosion-rocks-beijing-airport-in-china-witness-says?lite

[davidpdx]

2. More pictures

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2013-07/20/c_132558572_5.htm

This last one is from the Chinese News Agency

Explosion hits Beijing International Airport

BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- An explosion occurred Saturday evening in Terminal 3 of the Beijing International Airport, police said.

A wheel-chaired Chinese man set off a home-made explosive device outside the arrivals exit of the Terminal 3 at around 6:24 p.m.. The man was injured and is currently under treatment.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-07/20/c_132558616.htm

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Amazed the guy was not killed outright.

[davidpdx]

4. It doesn't sound like what ever device he had wasn't that bad

lucky for him. It will be interesting to hear the story behind the whole thing now.

[freshwest]

5. Attempted suicide? Good thing he got medical treatment right away.

[davidpdx]

6. It sounds like the explosion was so small, he didn't even know what he was doing

if he was indeed trying to commit suicide. He'll probably face criminal charges for the explosion. The question that still lingers is what his motive was.

[freshwest]

7. Perhaps because he is wheelchair bound? Being confined to one is not an easy life.

Could have been family problems, a lack of medical care, maybe he even lost his place to live.

I'm not hopeful for many details, most of stories from there don't get much follow up.

Hope he didn't do damage to his hand, arms or head. It would just make his life that much harder.

The photos at the link were amazing, so clear and right on the spot, even though it appeared he purposefully put himself where someone could see him from the security cameras.

[davidpdx]

8. That could be part of his motive

is that he feels his complaints weren't being justly dealt with.

As for the pictures, from what I read was that the explosion was so small and it was pretty apparent it was going to be just that one, that people were coming up close and taking pictures with their camera phones. That maybe why we got such close up, clear photos.

I very much doubt we'll hear anything. The poor guy is probably in a heap of trouble.

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. Dramatic hi-res closeup of suspect here

[link:|

[davidpdx]

10. Update

A handicapped man was shouting inside a Beijing airport on Saturday and no one bothered to pay attention to him. And then he pulled out a bomb, and still no one noticed. The bomb went off, injured no one, and then finally a crowd gathered.

This is what we know from state media reports: Ji Zhongxing, a 34-year-old man confined to a wheelchair from Shandong, set off a small explosive device he was holding around 6:24 p.m. local time at the Beijing Capital International Airport. He was just outside of the international arrivals exit of the airport's busy Terminal 3 when the explosion happened. No one else was hurt, but he's being treated for injuries.

So the next questions is, why would this man go so far as to attempt blowing himself up in the middle of an airport? And it appears the move was, perhaps unsurprisingly, an act of protest. A blog that supposedly belongs to to the man says he was beaten with a pipe and paralyzed by Chinese authorities in 2005. He's been confined to a wheelchair ever since. You can even read the blog post right here (if you can translate it):


http://news.yahoo.com/why-angry-man-set-off-bomb-beijing-airport-153549109.html