CHANGCHUN: Two people injured by a grenade explosion, which killed four
people and injured two others on Wednesday evening in Meihekou, in Northeast
China's Jilin Province, have been discharged from hospital, and the work of
searching for more clues is underway, according to the local public security
bureau.
"The cause of the explosion was quickly identified within 30 minutes and the
investigation showed the tragedy was sparked by a quarrel during a game of
cards," it said.
Police have found that three of the victims were killed on the spot, while
the fourth one died in hospital on Thursday morning.
Two female passers-by were hurt by the blast.
Police identified the victims as Zhang Jun, a laid-off worker from a local
grain depot; Liu Tao and Liu Hui, both staff from a local coal mine and Gao
Ming, the suspect in the explosion.
"I heard a loud noise when I passed by the spot of the explosion. I guessed
something had exploded and hurried to the front to see, I was really stunned,"
said a witness surnamed Xia.
There was a thick odour of powder in the air, and three men were lying on the
ground surrounded by blood and pieces of clothes, he added.
According to the police, Gao Ming had his left leg badly hurt during the
explosion but he fled the site after the blast.
Police soon found him in a hospital near the scene and located a round rusty
metal lid in his pocket, which was a part of the grenade. Gao died on Thursday
morning.
The other three victims had badly injured limbs from the grenade, and police
said they thought the three had all tried to wrench the grenade from Gao's
hands.
Police say the four regularly played cards together. On Wednesday morning
they were playing as usual. Events unfolded as Liu took a long time choosing
which cards to play and Gao became impatient and began to insult Liu, which
caused the other two to fight. Gao returned home still feeling angry. Later he
held a grenade to the three people and exploded it.
(China Daily 03/25/2006 page2)