BEIJING – A man demanding about $700 in unpaid wages detonated a bomb in an office building in far west China on Thursday, killing himself and injuring two others, state media reported.
Labor disputes have mushroomed across China in the past year, with the global financial crisis forcing many businesses to cut jobs and salaries.
The 42-year-old man, Han Wushun, arrived at the construction company office in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, around 1:00 p.m. (0500 GMT) with a small black bag containing explosives, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Han demanded $662 in back salary and said he would set off the bomb if he wasn't paid, it said.
Three men were in the office of the Xinjiang Beixin Road and Bridge Construction Co. when he arrived, but one managed to escape and alerted others in the building about the bomb scare, it said.
The two others tried to convince Han not to detonate the device, then fled when he set off the bomb about an hour later at 2:10 p.m. (0610 GMT), it said.
One man was hospitalized with non life-threatening injuries to his face, while the other had minor wounds on his hands, it said.
Attacks using homemade bombs in business disputes or personal grudges are reported frequently in China, where most gun ownership is illegal but explosives are widely available.
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