Terrorist attack in China prior to the Olympics
Published by Avi Green on Monday, August 04, 2008 at 2:07 PM.
Last Friday, Gordon Chang wrote in the NY Sun that a terrorist attack on the Olympics in China were almost inevitable. Now, he's been proven right, as Islamic terrorists attacked and murdered 16 policemen in the northeastern area of Xinjiang (via Michelle Malkin):
Update: the police are cracking down on the area after the assault.
BEIJING — Two men rammed a dump truck into a group of jogging policemen and then tossed explosives into their barracks today, killing 16 officers at a restive Chinese province bordering Central Asia, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.They pose a serious threat to China as well. Meanwhile, I hope those two monsters who committed that heinous crime get the worst possible punishment for their sadistic assault. And I certainly hope that China's authorities are employing the best possible security at the Olympic site, although really, given their own record of anti-democratic actions against their own people, I can't see why the Olympics should have to be held there.
The attack at Xinjiang province came just four days before the start of the Beijing Olympics — an event that has put security forces nationwide on alert and that at least one militant Muslim group has vowed to disrupt. Xinhua, citing local police, called it a "suspected terrorist attack."
[...]
The attackers at Xinjiang struck at 8 a.m., plowing into the policemen performing their morning exercises outside a hotel next to their paramilitary border patrol post at Kashgar, Xinhua said.
After the truck hit an electrical pole, the pair jumped out, threw homemade explosives at the barracks and "also hacked the policemen with knives," the report said.
Fourteen died on the spot and two others en route to a hospital, while at least 16 others were wounded, Xinhua said.
Police arrested the two attackers, one of whom had a leg injury, the report said.
The attack was one of the deadliest and most brazen in recent years in Xinjiang province, where local Muslims have waged a sporadically violent rebellion against Chinese rule.
[...]
Chinese security forces have been on edge for months, citing a number of foiled plots by Muslim separatists and a series of bombings around China in the run-up to the Olympics, which open Friday. Last week, a senior military commander said radical Muslims who are fighting for what they call an independent East Turkistan in Xinjiang posed the single greatest threat to the games.
Update: the police are cracking down on the area after the assault.
