A Filipino man was among those wounded after an unidentified man threw home-made explosives inside Shangai’s main international airport.
An unidentified man removed at least a beer bottle believed to have explosive materials from a backpack and threw near the a check-in counter inside Terminal 2 of Pudong International Airport, according to the Shanghai government.
The man then took out a knife and slashed his own neck, it said in a statement, adding that the suspect is now in critical condition in a hospital.
The motive of the act was not immediately known although there have been several cases in China of disgruntled individuals setting off explosions or starting fires in revenge for perceived wrongs
China’s official Xinhua news agency said the injured individuals included a 67-year-old man, a 64-year-old woman, both described as Chinese and a man from the Philippines. The nationality of the fourth injured victim was unclear. They were all injured by glass shards and are now being treated in the hospital.
The incident affected a few scheduled flights as it disrupted check-in area operations but later the airport operations was restored to normal.
Online video clips showed dense grey smoke rising to the ceiling of the cavernous terminal, and paramilitary security forces rushing into the building immediately after the incident.
Photos posted online by those claiming to be witnesses showed police keeping people back from the scene and abandoned luggage littering the floor. The incident came as people returned home after a public holiday and just days before Thursday’s opening of a Disney theme park in Shanghai.