Japanese army and navy. forces garrisoning Poolung have begun mopping-up operations to clear out about 3,000 Chinese Irregulars on the peninsula, a Japanese military spokesman revealed on Jan. 17.
'These operations, he said, were necessary, inthe interests of' public safety.
"This will be the rst, time that such action has been taken", he added, "There has been no systematic mopping up of Pootung up to now."
The spokesman denied knowledge of the reported occupation of Chuanha, a walled tows east of Shanghai, by Chinese irregulars, but admitted was possible.
€d, A number of coolies afd other employees of the "Hwa Mel Wan Pao" were on the premises at the ume, Suddenly, shortly before 7 pin, there was a terrific explosion in the door-way. It was subsequently found that the missile was a hand grenade of the—"potatomasher" type which many Chinese soldiers carry in pairs across the chest. Eye-witnesses of the bombing said that the man who threw the hand-grenade appeared to be a Chinese, but due to the rapidity swith which the incident occured they were unable to give more than the vaguest description of him, Three coolies who were in the office on the ground floor at the time were severely Injured by the explosion, "They were all rushed off to hospital In'an ambulance, and the condition of at least one of them Jost night was said to be extremely critical and he was not expected to ive: In addition, the whole of that Part of the "Hwa Mei Wan Pao's" office was wrecked when the bomb exploded.
The throwing of the hand-grenade was, believed last night to be the work of a terrorist gang, possibly the seme gang that was responsible for the two bombings of Japanese military sampans on the Soochow Creek a short while ago.
It was freely reported that night! that the hand-grenade might have
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