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Terrorists tried to attack Olympic venue: China
9 Mar 2008, 2037 hrs IST,Saibal Dasgupta,TNN
SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
BEIJING: Terrorists from the northwest Xinjiang had targeted the venue of the Olympic Games and an aircraft belonging to the China Southern Airlines, Chinese officials said on Sunday.
The plans to attack the Olympic venue were revealed in a raid at Urumqi, the regional capital, which resulted in the killing of two suspected terrorists in January end.
Wang Lequan, a senior Xinjiang official said that materials seized by the police during the raid showed that terrorists had planned to "specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics."
The Chinese government is cagey about discussing any issue that can cause bad publicity to the Summer Games. This is what makes this statement by Wang significant.
Xinjiang separatists are not known to have ventured in the Chinese capital so far. The government had earlier said earlier described terrorism as a major threat to the Games. But this is the first time that a Communist Party leader has revealed concrete plans by militants to target the Games venue.
Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, told reporters that "some people were attempting to create an air disaster." in a China Southern Airlines plane, which was forced to land was forced to land in the north-western city of Lanzhou on Friday.
The crew decided to land the plane after it foiled the attempt to cause air disaster, he said. He did not mention that the people causing trouble in the plane came from Xinjiang.
"Who the people involved in the incident were, where they were from, what their aim was and what their background was, we are now investigating," he said.
The flight arrived in Beijing on Saturday. There were no injuries. He had yesterday called for an intensification of the crack down on "evil forces" in the region.
The Xinjiang police killed two suspected militants and arrested 15 others in a raid in the regional capital of Urumqi last month.
Earlier reports had said that police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and "extremist religious ideological materials" during the raid in Urumqi. But there was no mention of an attempt to attack the Olympic venue in earlier reports.
The Chinese government is worried that Xinjiang separatists, some of whom are fighting for creation of an independent country under the name of East Turkmenistan, attract a lot of attention among non-government organisations and the media in western countries. The government's attempts to put down the separatist movement have been drawing criticism in the West for its repressive measures
Terrorists tried to attack Olympic venue: China-China-World-The Times of India
9 Mar 2008, 2037 hrs IST,Saibal Dasgupta,TNN
SMS NEWS to 58888 for latest updates
BEIJING: Terrorists from the northwest Xinjiang had targeted the venue of the Olympic Games and an aircraft belonging to the China Southern Airlines, Chinese officials said on Sunday.
The plans to attack the Olympic venue were revealed in a raid at Urumqi, the regional capital, which resulted in the killing of two suspected terrorists in January end.
Wang Lequan, a senior Xinjiang official said that materials seized by the police during the raid showed that terrorists had planned to "specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics."
The Chinese government is cagey about discussing any issue that can cause bad publicity to the Summer Games. This is what makes this statement by Wang significant.
Xinjiang separatists are not known to have ventured in the Chinese capital so far. The government had earlier said earlier described terrorism as a major threat to the Games. But this is the first time that a Communist Party leader has revealed concrete plans by militants to target the Games venue.
Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, told reporters that "some people were attempting to create an air disaster." in a China Southern Airlines plane, which was forced to land was forced to land in the north-western city of Lanzhou on Friday.
The crew decided to land the plane after it foiled the attempt to cause air disaster, he said. He did not mention that the people causing trouble in the plane came from Xinjiang.
"Who the people involved in the incident were, where they were from, what their aim was and what their background was, we are now investigating," he said.
The flight arrived in Beijing on Saturday. There were no injuries. He had yesterday called for an intensification of the crack down on "evil forces" in the region.
The Xinjiang police killed two suspected militants and arrested 15 others in a raid in the regional capital of Urumqi last month.
Earlier reports had said that police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and "extremist religious ideological materials" during the raid in Urumqi. But there was no mention of an attempt to attack the Olympic venue in earlier reports.
The Chinese government is worried that Xinjiang separatists, some of whom are fighting for creation of an independent country under the name of East Turkmenistan, attract a lot of attention among non-government organisations and the media in western countries. The government's attempts to put down the separatist movement have been drawing criticism in the West for its repressive measures
Terrorists tried to attack Olympic venue: China-China-World-The Times of India
