Seven Killed in an attack on Police in Aksu City, Xinjiang China!!

Official: Attack in western China targeted police
By Anita Chang
Associated Press Writer / August 20, 2010

BEIJING—Attackers who set off explosives in a restive region of far-western China that killed seven people and wounded 14 others were targeting security forces, the local government said Friday.

The attack a day earlier in Aksu city was the deadliest violence reported in Xinjiang -- long beset by ethnic conflict and separatist violence -- since rioting in the regional capital of Urumqi last year left about 200 dead, according to an official count.

The attackers threw explosives while driving a three-wheeled motor vehicle into a group of 15 police support officers who were getting into formation while on patrol, a report on the Aksu city website said, citing police spokesman Xiao Chunfeng.

It was not clear whether the police were uniformed or in civilian dress wearing red armbands, as is common in China for government officials in support roles.

Authorities have not said how many of the dead and injured were civilians.

The Aksu report did not say how many people were involved in the attack. Xinjiang government spokeswoman Hou Hanmin earlier said a man belonging to the region's native Uighur ethnic group was captured immediately, while the official Xinhua News Agency said a woman was also involved and died in the blast.

Local officials could not be reached for further comment. Hou's cell phone rang unanswered Friday and a man in the Aksu Communist Party propaganda office referred questions to the city government website and hung up.

Local residents reached by phone Friday said the security situation in Aksu, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) from Urumqi, was normal. They said authorities had not set up checkpoints or imposed a curfew, which has happened in the past after similar violence.

A Germany-based Uighur exile group said Thursday the victims included members of the local police force and its auxiliary unit.

Anti-government sentiment among Uighurs is fed by the Communist Party's heavy-handed control over their language, culture and Islamic faith, along with resentment of Chinese migrants who they believe are favored economically to the detriment of Xinjiang's native population.

The government claims attacks are often planned by exile Uighurs in other countries, including across the border in Central Asia or Pakistan.

In the July 2009 Urumqi riots, long-simmering tensions between the Turkic Muslim Uighurs and China's majority Han flared into open violence. Hundreds of people have been arrested and about two dozen sentenced to death, while many other Uighurs remain unaccounted for and are believed to be in custody.

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Associated Press researcher Xi Yue contributed to this report.

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Obcession said:

I remember there was another incident back in '08 when the terrorists drove a truck into a group of police patrol officers and started hacking them with machetes. I think this calls for a change in tactics in patrols. Instead of standing shoulder to shoulder, they should spread out in formation and be allowed to carry arms (if they are not already, as apparently was the case in '08) to deter against such massed casaulties against so few people.

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airsuperiority said:

It's impossible to defend against these actions if these policemen were just conducting daily standing drills or something. Even if it's patrols, this isn't wartime, and they aren't able to expect the next attack. Either way, there may be connections between this year's attack from last year's. Possibly copycat or by the same organized planners. But whoever it was, they should know, what they're doing is like pinching a giant with very thick skin. Irritating but otherwise doesn't really hurt that much. Oh and this giant wields a very giant stick with lots of blood stain from previous people who pissed him off.

And the media source sounded like nothing else other than a propaganda outlet itself. "Hung up"....wow do they even need to include this in? Everyone hangs up after a phone call. Aside from the need to take a course on professional journalism, this is a very poor writer who should go back to ESL to learn how to omit redundancy in writing.

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Obcession said:

I remember there was another incident back in '08 when the terrorists drove a truck into a group of police patrol officers and started hacking them with machetes. I think this calls for a change in tactics in patrols. Instead of standing shoulder to shoulder, they should spread out in formation and be allowed to carry arms (if they are not already, as apparently was the case in '08) to deter against such massed casaulties against so few people.

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Quickie said:

Take notice of the choice of words used by these so-called free media. You never see these kind of words being used whenever they report on political violence in other countries like Russia, India, Thailand, Phillipines etc. Words like "heavy-handed control over their language, culture and Islamic faith..."
"long-simmering tensions between the..." never failed to appear in their reporting of political violence in China. Why do these media so negatively bias on China? Is this not full-scale war on the media front?

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Quickie said:

Take notice of the choice of words used by these so-called free media. You never see these kind of words being used whenever they report on political violence in other countries like Russia, India, Thailand, Phillipines etc. Words like "heavy-handed control over their language, culture and Islamic faith..."
"long-simmering tensions between the..." never failed to appear in their reporting of political violence in China. Why do these media so negatively bias on China? Is this not full-scale war on the media front?

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By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, August 19, 2010; 12:26 PM

BEIJING -- An attacker riding a three-wheeled vehicle attacked a contingent of security volunteers Thursday in Aksu city, in China's restive western region of Xinjiang, killing seven people and wounding 14 others in the first such incident since bloody ethnic rioting shook the area a year ago.

A statement posted late Thursday on the Web site of the autonomous Xinjiang regional government said the volunteers were on patrol and standing in a line when the attacker struck. The statement said five security force members died at the scene, and two others died later in a local hospital.

The attack occurred in Yoganqi township, on the outskirts of Aksu city, on the highway linking Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, to Kashgar in the west, the statement said.

"At 10:30 a.m., the violent criminal rode a motor tricycle and rushed toward a patrolling group, throwing an explosive device and triggering an explosion," the regional government said. It said the attack came when the 15-member patrol, led by an assistant police officer, reached a T-junction and lined up there. Several police motorcycles were damaged in the blast, it said.

After the attack, "one criminal suspect was caught at the scene," which was quickly cordoned off, the statement said.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government, Hou Hanmin described the arrested suspect as a member of the country's Muslim Uighur ethnic group. She said most of the victims also were Uighur and that some of the injuries were serious.

In a telephone interview, Hou said it was too early to say whether the suspect was connected with one of the separatist organizations that Beijing has labeled as terrorist groups. "The explosion was not an accident," Hou said. "It was an intentional, man-made explosion. Whether it's a terrorist attack or not, I can't draw that conclusion right now. We still need time to investigate.

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bd popeye said:

Are they lying about the conditions or is there some truth?

This is the story how it appeared in the Washington post about 12 minutes ago..Please read

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