Another blast hits Chinese city where explosions killed 7

BEIJING -- An explosion damaged a six-story building Thursday in southern China, less than a day after more than a dozen blasts triggered by explosive devices delivered in mail packages killed at least seven people and injured over 50 in the same county in southern China, officials and state media said.

The latest blast hit a civilian's house near a highway administration bureau in Liucheng in Guangxi region, which borders Vietnam, but it was not immediately known whether there were any casualties, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The Ministry of Public Security said it was treating the blasts Wednesday as a criminal act and not terrorism. It said a 33-year-old local man, identified only by his family name of Wei, was considered a suspect but provided no further details, including a possible motive or whether the man had been detained. Local media reported the suspect had been apprehended.

Xinhua said the suspect had hired others to help deliver the bombs.

A local Communist Party newspaper, the Guangxi Daily, cited police as saying there were 17 explosions Wednesday afternoon in Liucheng, leaving seven people dead, two missing and 51 injured.

Wednesday's explosions, which occurred between 3:15 p.m. and 5 p.m., hit a hospital, local markets, a shopping mall, a bus station and several government buildings, according to a police statement posted by the local newspaper, Nanguo Zaobao.