CHINA. THREE EXECUTED FOR ARMED ROBBERY, BOMBING

three convicted armed robbers were executed in southwest China's Chongqing municipality after engaging in a cross province crime spree that included a bombing and gun battles with police. The three were executed immediately after the Chongqing high court issued the execution order.
Shi Rifang, Li Yuanshu and Pu Zhongquan were convicted of armed robberies in Urumqi in the northwest region of Xinjiang, Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, and in the eastern city of Hangzhou and Chongqing from April 2002 to August 2004. During the crime spree they reportedly killed one person and wounded two others while making off with 420,000 yuan (51,000 dollars) in cash and two hand guns.
The gang was also held responsible for a gun battle in Chongqing in August 2004 when they stripped a gun from a police officer and also set off an improvised bomb in the city's busy Liberation Monument district as they escaped. The three were captured on August 29 in a small village in the southwest province of Guizhou, where another accomplice committed suicide following a gun battle with police.