CHINA: Kashgar official says attack which killed 16 policemen was Olympics sabotage

Record ID: 352977

  • Title: CHINA: Kashgar official says attack which killed 16 policemen was Olympics sabotage
  • Date: 5th August 2008
  • Summary: (W2) KASHGAR, XINJIANG AUTONOMOUS REGION, CHINA (AUGUST 5, 2008) (REUTERS) CARS BEING STOPPED AT MILITARY CHECK POINT IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF KASHGAR SOLDIER CHECKING INSIDE A TAXI
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA1QMUSYUYLFGXF4HZDFB9ZMBRP
  • Story Text: Security is stepped up as a local official says the Kashgar attackers who killed 16 policemen in China's Xinjiang region are part of a concerted attempt to sabotage the Olympic games.
    The attack which killed 16 police in China's western Xinjiang region on Monday(August 4) was part of a concerted sabotage attempt on the Olympic games, a regional official said on Tuesday (August 5).
    Security in the region was stepped up after the incident, which also left 16 officers injured. Police stopped and checked all cars and buses entering the city of Kashgar, scene of the attack, while riot police ringed the hospital where the officers injured in the attack were being treated and prevented reporters from talking to family members.
    Xinjiang's largely Muslim Uighurs have been a focus of China's strict nationwide security in the run-up to the Games, and China has said militants have forged ties with al Qaeda, Hizbut-Tahrir and other Islamist groups.
    "From the beginning of this year, overseas terror groups gave orders to terror groups within Chinese borders, asking them to carry out terrorist attacks every month from April or May until the Olympic Games finish. They teach them how to make weapons and carry out terrorist attacks via the Internet," Shi Dagang, communist party secretary in Kashgar, told a news conference.
    Chinese state television CCTV reported that the two men who rammed a truck into a group of 70 policeman on a morning jog and then threw home-made bombs at them were a taxi driver and a vegetable seller from Kashgar, both of them now under arrest.
    Police found nine homemade explosives, a homemade gun and propaganda materials "promoting jihad", said CCTV. Police believed the "weapons were similar to those captured by police from an East Turkestan terror camp in January 2007", it added.
    Many Uighurs resent Chinese controls on religion and the expanding ethnic Han Chinese presence in Xinjiang, a region rich in energy and mineral resources.
    Officials have said militants seeking an independent "East Turkestan" homeland are among the biggest threats to the Summer Games which begin on Friday (August 8).
    "The two leaders of the East Turkestan liberation movement had once said very directly that the Olympic Games would be their last chance to carry out terrorist attacks. They just want to make it stain, even if they are striking a stone with eggs," Shi added.
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