A bomb exploded in a square in the center of the Southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Wednesday, wounding several people, police and state media said.

　　The blast hit the capital city of Sichuan Province around noon, and that police captured a male suspect some 650 ft from the site about 10 minutes later, police said.

　　"Soil and small pieces of paper were scattered about 10 meters around the site," said a report by Xinhua's Web site.

　　Police also found evidence of explosives and parts of batteries at the site of the blast, it said.

　　"There are people injured," an editor at a Chengdu newspaper said.

　　The bomb, which went off in a fountain in the city's central Tianfu Square, wounded at least three people, including children, according to witnesses.

　　"The bomb went off just as the clock struck 12," said a witness.

　　Police and fire department officials rushed to the site soon after the blast and sent the injuredsintoshospital.