Petrol bomb attack on Chinese bank - state media Published duration 13 May 2011

image caption Several people with burns were carried out of the building on stretchers.

Dozens of people have been injured in China in a petrol bomb attack on a bank, state news agency Xinhua reports.

A disgruntled ex-employee at a rural bank in north-west Gansu province is said to have thrown the bomb into the building, reports say.

Staff were holding a morning meeting in the bank at the time of the attack.

Initial reports spoke of dozens having been killed - but later reports described no deaths. The government has said the attack was "arson".

The attack took place at about 0800 local time (0000 GMT) at the bank in Wuwei city in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, local authorities said.

The perpetrator was identified as former cashier Yang Xianwen, 39, who was fired last month for "embezzling bank money", reports quoted a government statement as saying.

He fled the scene and a police hunt was reported to be under way.

An eyewitness quoted by Xinhua said he saw some people throw themselves out of a fourth-floor window after the blast.

Several people with burns were carried out of the building on stretchers.

Xinhua said police and medical workers were at the scene and the street had been cordoned off.

Xinhua initially said the blast had caused "significant deaths and injuries" but later issued a report saying the fire had led to dozens of injuries but no deaths.