China orders tighter mail security following mail bombings

Chinatopix Via AP

A nurse prepares to transfer a man injured by a mail bomb blast to a hospital in Liuzhou city from the People’s Hospital in Liucheng county in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015.

Associated Press

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 | 12:33 a.m.

BEIJING — China's postal service is ordering tighter checks on packages following a series of mail bombings that killed 10 people and injured 51.

Mail carriers and overnight delivery services must conduct additional checks for explosives, dangerous chemicals, weapons, gunpowder and poisons, the State Post Bureau said on its website Saturday. Closer cooperation with police will also be required.

The order follows a series of 18 explosions in the southern region of Guangxi on Wednesday and Thursday blamed on a 33-year-old man, Wei Yinyong, who had long-standing disputes with neighbors and companies involved in stone quarrying.

The explosions hit a hospital, markets, a shopping mall, a bus station and several government buildings. Wei was believed to have been killed in one of the blasts.

China tightly restricts the use of firearms, making bombs the frequent weapon of choice in revenge attacks. The number of bombs used in the Guangxi attacks appeared unprecedented, however, especially considering that they all were delivered within the single small county of Liucheng.