Two dead amid explosions, rifle fire in north-west China (Roundup)

Beijing - Several explosions and sporadic rifle fire rocked Kuqa county in the north-western China's restive Xinjiang region Sunday morning, and at least two people were killed, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The explosions occurred between 3:20 am and 4:00 am in downtown Kuqa, a county with a population of about 400,000 located about 740 kilometers from the Xinjiang's capital Urumqi, Xinhua said. At least four or five suspects were killed or injured, according to Xinhua, adding that the number of dead and injured could rise. The military responded to the blasts and cordoned off the area, Xinhua said. A foreigner in Kuqa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa via telephone that there were nearly 20 strong explosions and flashes of light were visible, but no fire or smoke. He said an aircraft flew overhead before the blasts occurred. 'The rifle fire began a half hour after the first explosion,' the witness told dpa. It was followed within minutes by explosions. The cause of the explosion was unknown. The Xinjiang region is known for unrest and is home to 8 million Muslim Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group that has opposed Chinese rule. China has identified independence-seeking Uighur groups from Xinjiang as one of the biggest potential terrorist threats during the Olympics. The government has accused Uighur groups of terrorism in the past. Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the Munich-based group of exiled Uighurs, World Uighur Congress, told dpa that people in the area said explosions were heard in different parts of the county. 'Local Uighurs said there were bombings at government offices, People's Armed Police (the paramilitary) units, as well as police stations. No civilian places were bombed,' said Raxit. The county was under military lockdown, with residents banned from leaving their homes, said Raxit. The foreigner who spoke to dpa also said neither Chinese, Uighur or foreign guests at the hotel where he is staying were allowed to leave. Soldiers from China's military, the People's Liberation Army, were patrolling the streets, Raxit said. 'There are a large number of soldiers everywhere. Now it's a complete lockdown. There are helicopters flying in the air,' Raxit said. 'I'm worried there will be a lot of innocent people arrested.' The blasts happened just two days after the August 8-24 Olympic Games opened in Beijing on Friday. It also came nearly a week after two Uighur men in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar threw explosives at and stabbed 16 paramilitary officers to death and injured 16 others their morning exercises Monday. Xinhua quoted Xinjiang's top Communist Party official as calling Monday's attack a terrorist act and that the Uighur separatist group East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) was suspected. Neil Fergus, an Australia-based security expert advising Beijing on Olympic security, said the blasts in Xinjiang Sunday were not unexpected because Chinese officials had received intelligence that ETIM would carry out attacks during the Olympics. But it was unclear whether ETIM is behind the latest bombings. After the 2001 attacks in the United States - and after Washington and Beijing began cooperating on anti-terrorism - the group was listed by both countries as an international terrorist group. It is believed that around 100 members of ETIM have been trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and several members were detained in Guantanamo Bay. But some foreign scholars who have studied the Xinjiang region previously questioned whether the group really exists. 'They do have the hallmarks of being genuine,' said Fergus, chief executive of Intelligent Risks, who was director of intelligence for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He had previously said he doesn't believe ETIM has any network in Beijing. 'We're hoping of course this theory we have that they have no impact on the Olympics is correct,' said Fergus. Regardless of who carried out the bombings, Raxit said they reflect deep-seated resentment against China's iron rule in the region historically populated by Uighur Muslims, not Han Chinese. In the Kuqa area, for example, the economy is controlled by the Hans, who have been moving into Xinjiang in large numbers, encouraged by government preferential policies. The largely agricultural county of Kuqa is still populated mostly by Uighurs, unlike other Xinjiang areas. It has a high unemployment rate and in recent years the government has leased farmland to many Hans, Raxit said. 'More and more Uighurs are working for Hans. They lose their land and are losing out to Hans in the tourism sector,' said Raxit. In the run-up to the Olympics, police in Xinjiang arrested 10,000 Uighurs, Raxit said. 'We're opposed to both sides using weapons, but China doen't give Uighurs any way to peacefully protest. Everything is suppressed. Under this situation, it forces Uighurs to take up arms. There's no foreign forces influencing this,' said Raxit. 'When the cat is anxious, it scratches.'