An explosion which killed 70 people in north China was set off by a disgruntled villager to settle a long-standing feud with fellow residents, state media reported Sunday.
Police on Sunday arrested Ma Hongqing, 51, for triggering the July 16 explosion in Mafang village in Dangcha township, Hengshan county in Shaanxi province, Xinhua news agency said.
Ma's business had failed and he was heavily in debt, Xinhua said.
Early on July 16 he threw a detonator into a house storing explosives in retaliation against fellow villager Ma Shiping and other residents with whom he had long-standing feuds, it said without elaborating.
Police had originally arrested Ma Shiping over the explosion. He had illegally stored unsold explosives in his brother's house in the village after his factory was shut down during a safety inspection in April, state media said.
But a two-week investigation by a group of 20 explosive experts from the provincial government showed that Ma Shiping could not have set off the explosion and suspicion turned to Ma Hongqing, the report said.
The announcement of Ma Hongqing's formal arrest is almost certain to end in his conviction as Chinese judicial procedures are nearly always decided in advance of the trial -- BEIJING (AFP)
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