Bus blasts not linked to Olympics

BEIJING — Chinese police investigating two deadly bus explosions in a southwestern city have not found any links between the blasts and next month's Olympic Games, officials said Tuesday.

The explosions Monday on two public buses in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, had heightened fears of terrorism with less than three weeks to go before the opening of the Beijing games.

"We have not found evidence that links it to the Beijing Olympics, but we continue to make efforts to find out the truth," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

Two people were killed and 14 wounded in the explosions on bus route 54, which police said were deliberately set. One blast shattered windows and tore a gaping hole in the side of the bus.

Kunming police chief Du Min ruled out links to the Olympics and to disgruntled farmers in the province who clashed with police over the weekend.

The state-run Southern Metropolis Daily in Guangdong province reported Tuesday that police were checking into text messages allegedly sent to Kunming residents warning them to avoid buses just hours before the two explosions.

"[I] hope citizens receiving this message will not take bus routes 54, 64 and 84 tomorrow morning," the newspaper quoted the message as saying.

Du denied there was such a text message, Xinhua reported, calling it a rumor.

The government has boosted national security to ensure a worry-free Olympics, which they say is a target for terrorism. The measures include stricter checks at subway stations and airports, and an anti-terror force of nearly 100,000 commandos, police and troops.

Most experts say the actual threat to the Beijing Games from terrorism is low, although the event has become a magnet for critics of the government.

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan province, 1,300 miles southwest of Beijing, and not generally considered a restive area.

Also

An official of South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday that China will step up inspections along its border with North Korea during the Olympics to try to reduce the growing number of North Korean migrants. But South Korea's National Intelligence Service dismissed a news report that China plans to close all bridges into its communist ally during the Olympics and that China has demanded that North Koreans already working in China leave.