In what seems to be the worst terrorist attack in China in a decade, terrorists in an oasis town Kashgar in Xinjiang region attacked a boarder police station building killing 16 policemen and wounding an equal number, on the early morning of 4th August’08.
The attack, just four days ahead of Beijing Olympics, is a grave blow to the Chinese security forces. Full details of the attack were although not available till now but according to the state Xinhua news agency two attackers drove one or two lorries into a police station, which mans boarder petrol in the far western city of Kashgar on the famous silk route, near the boarders with Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.
Chinese leaders have already identified terrorists from the remote desert region as the biggest threat to security of the Olympics. The attackers were however arrested at about 8.00 am local time and were identified as Uighur separatists.
The Uighur separatists, seeking to establish an independent state of East Turkistan, have operated for decades in the area, where the Muslim Uighurs live alongside the increasing numbers of Han Chinese immigrants from East China.
China says that it has already arrested 82 people for terrorist activities this year, who were plotting to kidnap Olympic athletes and attempted to set off bombs on a domestic flight. Today’s incident clearly justified the extreme tight security in Beijing for Olympics.
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