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Beijing Olympics terror threat foiled, China claims

09/03/2008

Chinese counterterrorism officers foiled a threat to the Beijing Olympics earlier this year, a senior Communist party official has said.

Politburo member Wang Lequan told party delegates for Xinjiang province militants killed in a raid in the far-western region earlier this year had been planning an attack for the 2008 Games.

According to state news agency Xinhua, the alleged terrorists intended "specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics".

Two people were killed and 15 arrested in a raid in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi on January 27th.

Xinjiang constitutes more than a sixth of China's territory and is populated by Turkic-Muslim minorities, the largest of which are the Uighurs, who demand more autonomy.

Mr Wang blamed Uighur separatists for the unspecified attack upon the Beijing Olympics.

"The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event, but there are always a few people who conspire to commit sabotage," he said. "It is no longer a secret now.

"Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from."

The claim from Beijing comes days after the flight crew on a China Southern passenger jet foiled an attempt to crash the airliner.

Nur Bekri, the ethnic Uighur governor of Xinjiang, said the incident had been a "terrorist attack".

No one was injured in Friday's midair incident, with the plane landing safely in Beijing on Saturday.