Six of the 47 people injured in a bungled murder attempt on Wednesday in Lioaning Province have left hospital and the one who was seriously injured is now out of danger, sources said yesterday.

The blast in the Zhengde shopping centre in Liaoyang County injured 47, including one seriously. There were no fatalities.

The shopping centre was closed and being cleaned up, a member of local government staff said.

A package containing explosives was thrown on the stairs to the second floor and shattered all the windows of the two-storey centre.

Most of the injured were pedestrians or stall vendors outside the centre who were hurt by broken glass, a local government staff member surnamed Zhang said.

"As the explosives were not wrapped up tightly, the power of blast was not very strong," he said.

One man, Ma Yuanxi, has been arrested.

Ma allegedly followed a man into the shopping centre intending to kill him and himself.

He then lit the 21 kilograms of explosives he was carrying in a bag, then called the man's name.

Apparently when the man turned round, Ma realized he had mistaken someone else for his intended victim, and in a panic he threw the bag onto the stairs.

Ma was also injured and sent to hospital, where he still was at press time yesterday.

Preliminary investigations show that Ma owns a private gold mine in Weichang County, Chengde, in Hebei Province.

He is already on the run from the police in connection with the death of a warehouse keeper, also in an explosion.

He fled after the killing with 36 detonators and seven packs of explosives, weighing 21 kilograms, and some fuses. He then drove an unlicensed car to Liaoyang County.

Further details are still under investigation.

(China Daily July 8, 2005)