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Death toll rises to 3 in eastern China blasts

By Steven Jiang, CNN
Smoke rises from the Linjiang district government office in Fuzhou city, Jiangxi province, eastern China.
Smoke rises from the Linjiang district government office in Fuzhou city, Jiangxi province, eastern China.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Among the dead is man suspected of setting off the explosives, an official says
  • Suspect is identified as Qian Mingpi, an unemployed resident of the area, an official says
  • Five people wounded in the blasts that targeted government buildings, officials say
  • The bombings occurred in Fuzhou, a city of nearly four million people south of Beijing
RELATED TOPICS
  • China
  • Jiangxi Province

Beijing, China (CNN) -- The death toll rose to three Friday following a series of explosions a day earlier at government facilities in the eastern Chinese city of Fuzhou, local officials told CNN.

"One body was found at one of the blast sites and two people died in the hospital," said Zhang Baoyun, a spokesman for the government of Jiangxi province, where Fuzhou is located. Five people were wounded in the blasts, he said.

Among the dead was the man suspected of setting off the explosives, Zhang said. He was identified as Qian Mingpi, 52, an unemployed resident of the area, he said.

Zhang declined to confirm an earlier Xinhua news agency report that blamed a disgruntled local peasant farmer for setting off the bombs because of an ongoing lawsuit.

The bombings began Thursday morning with a car bomb exploding in the parking lot of the Fuzhou city prosecutor's office. A blast at the Linchuan district government building followed and then another at the local drug administration building, Zhang said.

Fuzhou is a city of nearly 4 million residents some 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) south of Beijing.

In September, clashes between residents and officials in Yihuang, a county under Fuzhou, gained national attention when three residents doused themselves with gasoline and burned themselves to protest the forced demolition of their home by the local government.

One died in the hospital, prompting widespread outrage that eventually forced provincial authorities to fire several local officials.

CNN's Helena Hong contributed to this report.