NEW SPASM OF VIOLENCE IN WESTERN CHINA AS 11 DIE IN WAVE OF BOMBINGS
Jim Yardley
The New York Times, August 11, 2008
BEIJING — The violence in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang rose sharply Sunday morning with the deaths of a security guard and at least 10 suspects after a daring series of bombings that began with a predawn assault on a police station, the state news media reported.
The attacks, coinciding with the first weekend of the Beijing Olympics, occurred less than a week after what the Chinese authorities had described as China’s worst terrorist assault in recent memory, in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar. Last Monday, two Uighur Muslims rammed a truck into a group of paramilitary officers who were doing their morning exercises, then attacked with explosives and knives, the authorities say. Sixteen officers were killed and several more were wounded.
Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, described the suspects in Sunday’s attack as “terrorists,” though the authorities have not attributed the attack to any terrorist group. In recent weeks, the Chinese authorities have accused the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, of plotting terrorist attacks against the Olympics. The Chinese government and the United States State Department list the group as a terrorist organization, though some specialists on Xinjiang question its scope and potency. Some human rights groups have accused China of exaggerating the threat to justify its crackdown against Uighurs.
More recently, an obscure militant group, the Turkestan Islamic Party, released videos claiming responsibility for recent bus bombings in southwestern China and threatened to carry out attacks on the Olympics. Last week, IntelCenter, a private American group that monitors terrorism, concluded that this group was the same as ETIM.
Jim Yardley
The New York Times, August 11, 2008
BEIJING — The violence in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang rose sharply Sunday morning with the deaths of a security guard and at least 10 suspects after a daring series of bombings that began with a predawn assault on a police station, the state news media reported.
The attacks, coinciding with the first weekend of the Beijing Olympics, occurred less than a week after what the Chinese authorities had described as China’s worst terrorist assault in recent memory, in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar. Last Monday, two Uighur Muslims rammed a truck into a group of paramilitary officers who were doing their morning exercises, then attacked with explosives and knives, the authorities say. Sixteen officers were killed and several more were wounded.
Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, described the suspects in Sunday’s attack as “terrorists,” though the authorities have not attributed the attack to any terrorist group. In recent weeks, the Chinese authorities have accused the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM, of plotting terrorist attacks against the Olympics. The Chinese government and the United States State Department list the group as a terrorist organization, though some specialists on Xinjiang question its scope and potency. Some human rights groups have accused China of exaggerating the threat to justify its crackdown against Uighurs.
More recently, an obscure militant group, the Turkestan Islamic Party, released videos claiming responsibility for recent bus bombings in southwestern China and threatened to carry out attacks on the Olympics. Last week, IntelCenter, a private American group that monitors terrorism, concluded that this group was the same as ETIM.
(...) [artículo aquí]
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