Military

DATE=02/25/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BEIJING UNIVERSITIES BLASTS - L

NUMBER=2-300017

BYLINE=JIM RANDLE

DATELINE=BEIJING

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

Eds: Tsinghua University officially continues to use the old

transliteration instead of the newer pinyin transliteration, Qinghua.

INTRO: Chinese officials say "homemade" explosives rocked two of China's top universities

Tuesday, injuring nine people. Witnesses said one of the explosions left

a smell of gunpowder. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports that there have been

no immediate claims of responsibility and no motive has been offered.

TEXT: The first blast hit a cafeteria at Tsinghua University, just before

noon, shattering many windows and filling one floor with smoke.

/// TSINGHUA OFFICIAL ACT, IN CHINESE, EST AND FADE ///

A university official, who refused to give her name, says six people

suffered leg injuries and were taken to a hospital. A report by the

official Xinhua News Agency says two of the injuries were "severe."

Ninety minutes later, another explosion struck nearby

Peking University, which is widely known by its Chinese nickname,

Bei-Da.

/// XU ACT IN CHINESE, ESTABLISH AND FADE UNDER ///

A Bei-Da official, who would only give his surname, Xu, said the blast

injured three people. Mr. Xu refused to provide any further

information, saying the matter was under investigation.

Tsinghua University is a prestigious school that counts

Premier Zhu Rongji and Communist Party Chairman Hu Jintao among its

graduates.

Both universities are located in the Northwest section of the Chinese

capital.

There were no immediate theories about who was responsible for the

explosions or what might have been behind them. There have been bomb

attacks in China that the authorities have attributed to Muslim

separatists, but bombs are also often used to settle personal or

business disputes.

China bans almost all private gun ownership, but does less to regulate

the explosives that are widely used in mining and other industries.

(Signed).

NEB/HK/JR/BK