Olympics terror bid foiled: China

[Finer in China]

http://www.thestar.com/article/326783

Olympics terror bid foiled: China

 

Guns, bombs seized in raid linked to Uyghur separatists; 'They're goal was very clear'

 

Mar 10, 2008 04:30 AM

Christopher Bodeen, Assocated Press

 

BEIJING–Chinese police broke up a terror plot targeting the Beijing Olympics, and a flight crew foiled an apparent attempt to crash a Chinese jetliner in a separate case, officials said yesterday.

 

Wang Lequan, the top Communist Party official in the western region of Xinjiang, said materials seized in a January raid in the regional capital, Urumqi, had described a plot with a purpose, ``specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics.

 

"Their goal was very clear," Wang told reporters in Beijing.

 

Wang cited no other evidence. Earlier reports on the raid had made no mention of Olympic targets.

 

Speaking at the same meeting, Xinjiang's governor said a flight crew prevented an apparent attempt to crash a China Southern flight from Urumqi on Friday. Nur Bekri did not label the incident a terrorist act, saying it remained under investigation. No passengers were injured and police are investigating, the governor said.

 

The incidents may give greater force to China's arguments that extreme measures are necessary to ensure social stability and the safety of August's Olympics.

 

China has ratcheted up anti-terror preparations in anticipation of the Summer Games, with the nation's top police official last year labelling terrorism the biggest threat facing the event.

 

Police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and ``extremist religious ideological materials" during the Jan. 27 raid in Urumqi, in which two members of the gang were killed and 15 arrested, according to earlier reports.

 

Chinese forces have, for years, battled a low-intensity separatist movement among Xinjiang's Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim people culturally and ethnically distinct from China's Han majority. Iron-fisted Chinese rule has largely suppressed the violence, however, and no major bombing or shooting incidents have been reported in almost a decade.

 

Wang said the group had been trained by and was following the orders of a Uyghur separatist group, based in Pakistan and Afghanistan, called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. The United Nations and United States both describe the movement as a terrorist organization. East Turkestan is another name for Xinjiang.

 

China says its main terror threat comes from the movement. It is not believed to have more than a few dozen members, but terrorism experts say it has become influential among extremist groups using the Internet to recruit and raise funds.

 

Chinese forces reported raiding one of the movement's training camps last year and killing 18 militants allegedly linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

 

Wang said security forces would crush terrorism, religious extremism and separatism. "These guys are fantasizing if they think they can disrupt the Olympics. They don't have the strength.''

 

Few details were available about the alleged attempt to crash the China Southern Airlines flight that left Urumqi at 10:35 a.m. Friday.

 

Governor Bekri indicated more than one person was involved but did not specify who is suspected of arranging the attempt.

 

Bekri said the crew responded to the hijack bid, arranging an emergency landing in the western city of Lanzhou, before continuing an hour later with the flight to Beijing.

[IllinoisDave]

I been suspicious of these "claims" since I first read them.

[Finer in China]

Good old Wang with his "bring it on" rhetoric!

[IllinoisDave]

Good old Wang with his "bring it on" rhetoric!

Yeah. He's a gunslinger from way back.

[TootTaLu]

There are actually some knock-off "2008 Bin Laden Olympics" t-shirts being sold,Ill try to find it on the internet and post a link.