Police vehicles hit by 'minor explosions' in Qinghai

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-09 14:04

XINING -- Authorities in northwest China's Qinghai Province reported that two police vehicles in a timber farm were hit by minor explosions shortly after 2 a.m. Monday following clashes between forest police and local residents.

"The emergency lights and roofs of a police car and a fire engine were destroyed by unsophisticated homemade explosives," said Lin Yasong, party chief of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of southern Qinghai Province.

There were no fatalities in the incident, the authorities said.

On Sunday afternoon, forest police stopped a local resident's timber truck at a checkpoint in Makehe Forest Farm near Baima, a remote county in Golog. They were stopped for a routine check of their cargo and licenses, police said.

A quarrel broke out between the occupants of the vehicle and the police, which led to dozens of local residents gathering at the station to protest. The crowd didn't disperse until midnight.

At about 2:15, the two police vehicles were hit by explosions.

Police are still investigating the incident.