Seven killed by multiple China letter bombs: state media

Beijing: Seven people were killed on Wednesday when 15 letter bombs exploded in southern China, state media said, with blasts reported in multiple locations including government offices.

Police described the blasts, which injured 51 people on the eve of China´s national day, as a "criminal case", ruling out a "terrorist act".

They said a 33-year-old local suspect had been arrested but gave no immediate explanations regarding his motive.

The explosions occurred in at least 13 locations in the rural county of Liucheng in the Guangxi region, the Nanguo Morning News, a local newspaper, cited police as saying.

They included a prison, a government office, a train station, a hospital and a shopping centre, it said.

Pictures showed portions of six-storey buildings gutted and collapsed, and streets littered with glass, bricks and other debris.

Other photos posted online, which could not be verified, showed overturned cars, victims bandaged and laid on makeshift stretchers and plumes of grey smoke rising above a residential district.

The explosives were apparently placed in express delivery packages, the official Xinhua news agency said.