Chinese 'parcel bombs' kill seven in Guangxi

At least seven people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of explosions in a small town in the southern Chinese region of Guangxi.

Seventeen bombs went off in a number of places in Liucheng county, including government buildings.

Photographs posted online show a large plume of smoke coming from one partially collapsed building.

Authorities say they are not treating the attacks as terrorism. A 33-year-old man is being held as a suspect.

The suspect's surname is Wei, according to the state-owned Guangxi Daily newspaper.

A prison and a supermarket were among the other buildings hit in the attacks.

Unverified photographs posted on social media show what appears to be substantial damage; in one, a five-storey building has been almost completely destroyed.


Debris was strewn over a large area.

A police statement said that - over a two-hour period in the afternoon - more than a dozen explosions took place in and around the town of Dapu.

The local authorities say they are investigating the possibility that bombs may have been put into parcels and then posted.

Lethal attacks on public targets in China are sometimes carried out by individuals with an unresolved medical or legal grievance, the BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing reports.