An explosion tore through a residential street in Xing'an County, in southern China’s Guangxi region, early Thursday, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 30, according to state-run media. Several residents told The Epoch Times they believe the blast was set off deliberately by someone seeking “revenge against society,” and one said the casualty count is far higher than officials have acknowledged.

Police have ruled out a gas leak but have not announced a cause.

Concerns have grown in China over so-called “revenge against society” attacks—violent acts aimed at random members of the public, often carried out by people lashing out over personal grievances, financial losses, or the country’s worsening economic conditions.

Residents said there were two explosions, and that the second one killed people who had come outside to see what had happened after the first.

“The explosion was right across from my friend’s home. After the first blast, he and his mother went outside to check, and then the second explosion happened. My friend and his mother were killed,” a friend of the victims told The Epoch Times. “My friend was in his 30s. Only his son and wife are left now. Thankfully they didn’t bring the son out at the time.”

Another resident described the same pattern. “My mother’s home is close to there, about a 10-minute walk. She said the windows and walls were shaking and thought it was an earthquake. Someone who ran over to see what was happening was killed in the blast.”

A resident who lives near the site also told The Epoch Times that there were two blasts.

“The glass in the homes on the street across from us was basically all shattered, and the glass downstairs in my building was broken too, right here by Shuijie,” the resident said, referring to the Shuijie commercial district.

Videos filmed by social media users showed the force of the explosion. The second-floor balcony of a residential building was destroyed, and the doors, windows, and walls of nearby buildings were damaged. The street was left in ruins.

The blast was felt far beyond the immediate area. One social media user wrote that their home is “two kilometers from here and the windows shattered.” Another said the glass “along the whole street” was broken. One person posted that a cousin “was sleeping at home and was killed in the blast.”

Damaged residential buildings near the site of an explosion on Lingxiang Road in Xing'an County, Guangxi Province, China, on June 11, 2026. (Provided to The Epoch Times by interviewee)

According to state-run local news media, the explosion may have occurred at a hardware store. Nearby residents told the local outlet that shops and residential buildings around the blast site were severely damaged, with some exterior walls scorched black and windows destroyed. Residents of the affected area have been moved to nearby hotels for safety.

A staff member at Xing'an County Hospital told the state-run Beijing News that the hospital had admitted more than 30 injured people, eight of them seriously hurt, though none were in life-threatening condition. The injured included a 2-year-old child. One patient suffered a brain hemorrhage and was unconscious on arrival but has since woken up.

‘True Toll May Be More’

“The casualties are enormous. They’re telling the outside world 17 injured, but it’s actually at least 40-some. Many had legs or arms blown off. A very young deputy director of the local tax bureau was killed—he was my sister’s classmate—along with a mother and her son who were good friends of my cousin.”

Authorities have not confirmed what caused the explosion. The Xing'an County Public Security Bureau said in a notice only that piped gas and similar factors had been ruled out, and that the cause remains under investigation.

In the absence of an official explanation, rumors have multiplied. The resident who lives near the site said people were blaming a man of around 70 from Shuibai Village, but stressed that the claim was unverified. Another local resident told The Epoch Times, “It was deliberate. An old man was scammed, so he took revenge against society. It wasn’t explosives—it was some unidentified object that detonated.”

Other unconfirmed accounts circulating locally ranged from a suicide bombing carried out by a couple to a revenge attack over a debt, while some social media users said the second blast was a parked car exploding after the first explosion knocked a power line onto it.

The Xing'an blast comes amid a broader wave of seemingly random violence across China. People with knowledge of the country’s internal security system told The Epoch Times in April that attacks such as stabbings and vehicle rammings now number in the hundreds each day nationwide, with most cases suppressed before they ever reach public view.

One insider said the scale of the violence has prompted concern at the highest levels of the Chinese Communist Party, as authorities move to censor information about such incidents.

Authorities have not confirmed whether the Xing'an explosion was a deliberate attack, and the residents’ accounts of a revenge motive remain unverified.

Gao Hui and Gu Xiaohua contributed to this report.