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.'
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