Suspect Sought in Chinese Blasts; Death Toll Hits 108

Police launched a manhunt Saturday for a key suspect a day after a string of blasts killed at least 108 people and wrecked four factory housing blocks in this northern Chinese city.

A wanted notice was printed in newspapers and posted at public buildings. A police spokesman who declined to give his name said Jin Ruchao, 40, is the prime suspect in the blasts, but he would not discuss a possible motive or other details.

Jin lived in worker housing at Cotton Mill No. 3, the notice said. An explosion there early Friday leveled a five-story apartment block housing 48 families. It was not clear whether Jin lived in that building or another in the same compound.

Explosions in Shijiazhuang, an industrial center about 170 miles southwest of Beijing, also damaged apartment blocks owned by another cotton mill, a railway agency and a construction firm. They occurred within an hour and several miles of one another. State television said the death toll had risen to 108, with 38 people injured.

Jin is also wanted for a March 9 killing in southwestern China, according to the notice, which offered a reward of $6,000--nearly 10 times the annual urban wage.