Tuesday 5 August 2008


CHINA BLAMES ATTACK ON MUSLIM SEPARATISTS

Edward Wong and Andrew Jacobs

The New York Times, August 6, 2008

KASHGAR, China — A day after two men attacked a military police unit in the country’s far northwest, killing 16 and wounding 16 others, the Chinese authorities sought to portray the ambush as an act of terrorism and said the men were members of an outlawed organization they contend has links to Al Qaeda.

The men, Muslims belonging to China’s ethnic Uighur minority, attacked the brigade early Monday morning as the officers lined up for calisthenics outside their barracks in central Kashgar. The attackers rammed the police with a dump truck and then lobbed homemade grenades. The authorities said the two arrested men had spent a month planning the attack as part of an effort by homegrown Islamic terrorists to disrupt the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

“We can see clearly that these forces are trying to wage a psychological and violent battle against the Olympics,” Shi Dagang, the Communist Party secretary of Kashgar, said at a news conference Tuesday. “They want to turn the year 2008 into a year of mourning for China.”

Days before the start of the opening ceremonies, the attack rattled security officials in Beijing, who have long warned that the greatest threat to the Games comes from members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group that the authorities have blamed for a recent string of attacks in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Some Western analysts have cast doubt on whether the group is strong enough to pose a serious threat.

(...) [artículo aquí]

No comments: