Suicide Bomber Who Killed 2 In China May Have Been Protesting Housing Demolitions

A woman in Qiaojia County in China's southwestern Yunnan province has carried out a suicide bombing, killing herself and 2 others, injuring 14.

The woman, as yet unidentified, may be a victim of forced housing demolitions. If suspicions are proven correct, the incident marks a turn for the worse in the struggles of rural Chinese against housing demolitions and home relocation, a popular approach in the country for carrying out land development.

The woman set off her bomb while meeting with members of the local government bureau for demolitions. According the events described through the micro-blogging account in a regional newspaper, she was asked to formalize documents on her home relocation.

Local authorities state that the incident occurred in the morning, local time on Thursday.

Chinese local papers state that 4 seriously injured persons have been rushed to the provincial capital in Kunming.

Home demolitions are a frequent occurrence throughout the country, as urban areas expand and land developers move quickly to snatch land from rural areas. Although all demolitions and new developments are supposed to be subject to government review, and farmers are guaranteed fair compensation for land by law, numerous examples also demonstrate corruption and collusion of local administrators with property developers, sometimes backed by local thugs.

Opposition to relocation and home destruction by residents, who sometimes refuse to leave homes even in the face of physical intimidation, increasingly capture the attention of the Chinese media and of netizens.

In late 2011, opposition to sales of rural land by corrupt officials in the Guangdong village of Wukan resulted in the farmers taking over the local government and expelling officials. Western media reported that the village was later cordoned off by police, though the provincial government eventually defused the situation through negotiations.