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Police station raided in west China’s Xinjiang

04 August 2008 12:06 (UTC +04:00)

Beijing â€“ APA. The raid on a border armed police division, which killed 16 policemen and injured 16 others, in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Monday morning, was suspected as a terrorist attack, according to police. APA reports quoting Xinhua agency the public security department in Xinjiang confirmed that the raid occurred in the front of the Yijin Hotel, which is at the right side of the police division yard in China’s western most city of Kashi, 1,400 km southwest of Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi. Two attackers drove a tip lorry to hit a team of policemen who were jogging through the street in a morning exercise at about 8:00 a.m., police witnesses said.
Fourteen policemen were killed on the spot and two others died on the way to hospital.
The two attackers got off the lorry after the vehicle veered to hit a roadside wire pole. They threw home-made explosives to the barracks, causing explosion. They also hacked the policemen with knives.
The police said the two attackers had been arrested, and one got a leg injury in the raid. Police found debris of five explosives in the division yard.
The regional public security department said it had got intelligence that the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" planned to make terrorist attacks during Aug. 1-8, just ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.