China denies London explosives claim

China today denied a news report that Chinese-made military explosives were used in the London underground attacks on July 7.

Chinese investigators looked into the claim by the Israeli newspaper Insider that the explosives came from a factory near Beijing and concluded the facility didn’t exist, the Foreign Ministry said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said the report on the Insider’s website was a “rash guess” and “extremely irresponsible,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The Israeli report cited an article in the German weekly Bild am Sonntag.

The July 7 bombings in London killed 52 people and four suspected suicide bombers.

Investigators found that the material cited in the Israeli report was not on the list of military gunpowder or explosives that China makes or exports, Kong was cited as saying.

The Israeli report said Israel’s Mossad spy agency told British investigators it was likely the London bombs were made of the same substance used in a bombing in Tel Aviv in April 2003, that killed three people and injured 60.

The report said the explosive was developed and produced at the Chinese ZDF arms factory, about about 40 miles from Beijing. It didn’t identify the substance.