| Eighteen arrested in China |
Published By: Samantha Newman
On Wednesday 6 August 2008 |
Eighteen people have been arrested in China's western Xinjian region a day after a bomb attack killed 16 police in a suspected terror attack.
Kashgar Party Secretary, Shi Dagang, said that 18 "foreign agitators" had been arrested but told reporters the people arrested were linked to an earlier incident of unrest.
Authorities said the attack was carried out by two young men - a local taxi driver and vegetable seller - from the Xinjiang region's Muslim Uighur community who were detained on the spot.
Xinjiang's largely Muslim Uighurs were already a focus of China's strict nationwide security in the run-up to the Olympic Games after officials deemed militants seeking an independent "East Turkestan" homeland among the biggest threats.
Many Uighurs resent Chinese controls on religion and the expanding ethnic Han Chinese presence in Xinjiang, a region rich in energy and mineral resources.
Chinese tourism official Du Jiang said of the attack: "This is an individual incident. We are basically a safe travel destination."
Chinese Olympics chiefs have added to this, insisting the country is safe for athletes and spectators ahead of the games.
