Beijing restaurant destroyed in blast

An explosion destroyed a restaurant in downtown Beijing Friday morning, adding to tensions in the capital ahead of the Oct. 1 National Day holiday. The official Xinhua news agency cited eyewitnesses saying there were injuries but this could not be confirmed. It wasn't clear what caused the explosion. The explosion took place at the Xinjiekou district in the old part of the city. According to pictures on Twitter, the restaurant was sandwiched in between two two-story brick buildings. One picture showed a fire truck and a car covered in rubble. Police and fire personnel stood in front of the debris, which spilled into the road. Beijing has been locked down ahead of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, with troops and masked gunmen patrolling key buildings and intersections. Despite the massive increase in security, a pair of recent violent incidents in Beijing have raised jitters. On Sept. 17, a stabbing spree near Tiananmen Square left two security guards dead and more than a dozen other people injured. Two days later, a French tourist was stabbed in the same neighborhood.