China investigating terrorist links in Xinjiang attack

www.reuters.com...
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities are investigating whether a series of attacks in the restive region of Xinjiang which killed 11 had links to known terrorist groups, a government official said on Monday.

Homemade grenade attacks shook Kuqa, a town in the south of Xinjiang more than 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from Beijing, as 15 men targeted supermarkets, hotels and government offices in the early hours of Sunday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

It was the second attack in Xinjiang in a week after 16 police were killed in the frontier city of Kashgar last Monday, as Beijing was gearing up to host the Olympic Games.

Xinjiang government official Mutiezhapu Hasimu told a news conference in the remote region, monitored on Hong Kong television, that Sunday's attacks had been "organized", and that three suspects were still on the run.

"It is still under investigation whether it was connected with other organizations," he said, when asked if the attack was connected to groups the government says are waging a violent campaign to set up an independent state called East Turkistan.

"There is no clear evidence to show the August 10 explosions had anything to do with what happened in Kashgar," he added.

Police shot dead eight assailants, while another two blew themselves up. A security guard also died in the attacks.

They managed to capture two of the attackers, according to state media.

"The terrorists that were killed and arrested were all Uighurs and from Xinjiang," Mutiezhapu Hasimu said.
(cont at url site)

[edit on 11-8-2008 by counterterrorist]