Police in north China's Hebei Province denied on Monday there was a bomb blast in a county public security bureau that injured 10 people as reported by some overseas media.

At 11:30 a.m. on July 9, a blast of confiscated firework materials in a garbage occurred when two construction workers ignited the trash near the building of Guangzong County Public Security Bureau office building. The blast cracked the glass of some windows but caused no casualties, according to the Guangzong County committee of the Communist Party of China.

The firework materials had been confiscated by the bureau and originally kept in a storehouse. Workers took them out together with old furniture and newspapers as trash near the building while cleaning.

In the past few days, some overseas media quoted a so-called human rights center based in Hong Kong as saying a bomb blast in the Guangzong Public Security Bureau left 10 injured.

The Guangzong County Public Security Bureau has punished those responsible for the incident.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2008)