Explosions in north China kill 1, injure 8

(UPI) -- Explosions likely caused by homemade bombs detonated near a Communist Party office in northern China Wednesday morning, killing at least one person and injuring eight others.

Police in Shanxi province said the explosions occurred around 7:40 a.m. local time in Taiyun, damaging two cars, and scattering ball bearings that appeared to have come from inside the improvised explosive devices, according to the state news agency Xinhua.

Security forces throughout China have been on high alert since an incident in Tiananmen Square on October 28, in which a vehicle barreled through a crowd and caught fire, killing two people as well as the three occupants of the truck. That crash has since been called a terrorist attack, blamed by officials on the Uighur Muslim separatist movement.