There's been a small explosion at Terminal 3 of the Beijing Airport, first reported by multiple people on Twitter including China-based Dealbook columnist Bill Bishop (@niubi). Images of the incident are spreading rapidly around on Weibo, China's answer to Twitter . There are photos of a man in a wheelchair holding something up and screaming, apparently right before the explosion, according to someone claiming to be an eyewitness on Weibo.
Reuters, citing the Weibo account of China's official Xinhua news service, reports that a man detonated a package of fireworks gunpowder outside the international arrivals exit. No flights were affected, and operations are back to normal at the airport.
A report sourced to Chinese web portal NetEase News by Bishop says the bomber was from coastal province Shandong.
Beijing police have confirmed the alleged bomber's origins, according to Bishop, and that he was the only one hurt.
He may have been disabled as a result of a police beating in 2005, according to a leaked letter.
Guy holding up something and screaming 1 , hard to tell not sure looks Han pic.twitter.com/SO0eFEQ45b
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) July 20, 2013
Photos, sourced to Weibo, of the explosion:
To clarify: from Weibo too, source unknown. "Another batch of live photos of the Beijing Airport wheelchair bomber: pic.twitter.com/h4XX3MWFSY"
— Richard Lai (@richardlai) July 20, 2013
Here's a photo of the aftermath:
We will continue to update this breaking news story ...