Fired Employee Bombs China Bank

A bank cashier fired for stealing money threw a gasoline bomb inside the bank today in northwestern China, injuring dozens of people, some of whom jumped from a fifth-story window to escape, the local government said. Employees of the Tianzhu County Rural Credit Cooperative Union were meeting about 8am when the employee threw the gasoline bomb, the propaganda office of the county's Communist Party said in a statement.

More than 40 people were hurt, 19 seriously; some of the injured jumped from the meeting room window onto a three-story building. The statement identified the cashier as Yang Xianwen and said he was fired last month for "embezzling bank money." It said Yang fled the scene and is being hunted by police. (More China stories.)