China had its second terrorist attack in as many weeks when at least six home-made bombs were detonated outside a Communist Party headquarters during morning rush hour.
One person was killed and several injured when the devices, packed with shrapnel and ball-bearings, went off as government employees were streaming in to work at the Shanxi province party committee building in Taiyuan this week.
The timing of the bombs could not come at a more sensitive moment for the party. Last week, a 4WD vehicle exploded in Tiananmen Square in what the state media termed a terrorist attack, and party leaders will soon meet in Beijing to discuss the country's economic future.
Almost all the bombs in Wednesday's attack were left in the hedges that line the road outside the 20-storey building. One was placed in a flower pot metres from the main gate of the building.
"They must have been timed for when government officials begin to arrive at work," said one resident. "If they wanted to hurt the public, they would have left them outside the bus station. They went off one after another, with a 20-second interval between them: bang, bang, bang."