China Arrests Accused Bomb Maker's Explosives Supplier

Police have arrested a man accused of supplying the explosives used in apartment building bombings in north China that killed 108 people, Xinhua said Tuesday.

Wang Yushun allegedly made the explosives to order for Jin Ruchao, the prime suspect in the bombings arrested last Friday after a nationwide weeklong manhunt. Wang was paid 950 yuan (US$114) for the explosives packed in more than 10 yellow plastic bags marked chicken feed, sources said.

Jin allegedly bombed four workers' dormitories in Shijiazhuang, a northern industrial city, in a 45-minute pre-dawn spree of explosions on March 16.

The major suspect of the deadly blast, Jin Ruchao, is an unemployed 40-year-old who is deaf. He has confessed to the Shijiazhuang bombings and that he was motivated by revenge.

According to sources, Jin as a premeditated killer who took taxis from one building to another, setting off the explosives which he had planted in advance.

Four days before the bombings, Jin ordered large amount of explosives from Wang. On March 15, Jin transported them in stages to Shijiazhuang and planted bags of explosives at three of the five buildings that were attacked. Then, he fell asleep for a few hours in a heating plant duct, Xinhua said.

Around 2 am on March 16, Jin hired a man to help him move 6 1/2 sacks of explosives to apartment building 16 at Shijiazhuang's No. 3 Cotton Mill. Working alone after the man left, Jin distributed the bags around the building and the adjacent building 15, where his stepmother lived, according to Xinhua.

He then "began his mad and merciless explosions crimes,'' it said.

Most deaths occurred in building 16, which was destroyed. Jin lived there and had a long-standing dispute with neighbors over property.

Jin then hailed a taxi to the home of his ex-wife's parents and allegedly detonated two bags of explosives there.

After another taxi ride, Xinhua said Jin set off two more bags of explosives at a dormitory where his ex-wife and her new husband lived. Finally, it said he detonated explosives at a two-story building that used to belong to his mother.

Xinhua said police were stepping up their interrogation of Jin and gathering more evidence in order to hand the case to prosecutors as early as possible.






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