China Group Asserts That It Bombed Buses

Speaking in Uighur, he says the group carried out the July 21 bus bombings in the Yunnan capital of Kunming, which killed two and injured 14. He says the group was also responsible for the Shanghai bus explosion, a July 17 attack involving a tractor loaded with explosives in the southeastern port city of Wenzhou, and the bombing of a plastics factory in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, also on July 17, according to the IntelCenter translation.

Police in Kunming and Shanghai said they have no evidence indicating that the bus bombings were organized acts of terrorism. "As to whether the explosions were masterminded by many suspects or just an individual, there is no conclusion now," the state-run New China News Agency quoted a spokesman for the Yunnan Provincial Department of Public Security as saying.

Cheng Jiulong, deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, said an investigation had determined that the explosion there was caused by a flammable liquid like oil. "The blast was indeed deliberate but had nothing to do with terrorist attacks," he said.

Terrorism had not previously been raised in connection with the other two incidents listed by the group, and the incidents did not occur July 17, as the group states. The Guangzhou explosion occurred March 13 in a vehicle repair plant and residential building, not a plastics factory, according to local media reports at the time. Seven people died, and 30 were injured. In Wenzhou on May 17, a man fighting with gamblers reportedly drove a tractor loaded with explosives to a gambling establishment and smashed into a car. When people gathered to look, he set off the explosives, killing 19 people.

"While the claims of responsibility appear exaggerated, the potential threat to transportation infrastructure, particularly in cities other than Beijing, cannot be brushed aside," according to an analysis of the video published by Strategic Forecasting, a firm based in Austin, Tex., that provides geopolitical intelligence.

Seyfullah released a five-page written statement on June 27 listing grievances against the Chinese government and calling for suicide bombings against several targets, including Chinese airports, railways and tourist spots.

"We certainly know they are capable of conducting bombings," said Ben Venzke, chief executive of IntelCenter. "It becomes a question of scale. It would seem they are clearly going to make attempts."

Researcher Liu Songjie contributed to this report.