The New Dominion

We cover a region that seems to have a disproportionate amount stories involving fire or explosions (here, here, and here), including, most prominently, the Beijing self-immolators who appear to be Uyghurs (and thus have a Xinjiang connection!). In the spirit of continuity, a heartbroken Beitun resident named Wang Xiaoming decided to resolve his breakup issues by going into the cell phone store owned by his former lover toting two buckets of gasoline and setting the whole thing, including himself, on fire. It’s a rather gruesome tale as described by Xinhua. There were seven injuries, including his ex-girlfriend’s new man and that guy’s nephew, and two fatalities, Wang himself and his target. Not a specifically Xinjiang story, per se, but I guess technically that, too, is self-immolation.