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An explosion ripped through a superstore in the bustling business district of downtown Shenzhen just one day after a reported visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to the city. Accounts of the incident that surfaced in Hong Kong papers on Tuesday said the explosives were left in a storage locker at the Carrefour superstore detonated at around 1 p.m. injuring three workers.
Prior to the attack, five superstores including Carrefour, Shenzhen Xinyijia Supermarket and the Shenzhen Baijia Supermarket reportedly received bomb threats.
Since the incident took place in the wake of tight security during Kim Jong-il's visit, authorities are conducting the investigation with particular urgency. It calls to mind a blast that injured scores at Ryongchon Station seconds after Kim Jong-il and his entourage, who were on the way back home from China, passed the station in April 2004.
Acting on the assumption that those behind Monday¡¯s blast were targeting superstores in the runup to the Lunar New Year¡¯s holidays, Shenzhen security authorities set up an investigation squad that is now focusing on the manufacturer of the explosive substance and tracking down the person who made the threatening calls, sources said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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