Police have arrested a suspect who allegedly caused a blast in a bar in Qinzhou City of southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region that killed three and wounded 31, the Qinzhou Public Security Bureau said on Thursday.

Lao Yongrong, 38, a partner in another local bar, allegedly brought a homemade explosive device into the Xinyese Bar in downtown Qinzhou at 1 a.m. on March 13. It exploded an hour later, killing two women and a man.

Lao hoped to discredit the Xinyese Bar, which he believed had wooed customers from his own bar, a Public Security Bureau official said at a press conference.

Before becoming a partner in the Music Channel Bar, Lao worked as an electrical engineer, the bureau added.

To date, most of the injured had been discharged from hospital.

(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2008)