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Chinese Muslims linked to Games bombings
By Mure Dickie in Beijing
Published: July 27 2008 18:38 | Last updated: July 27 2008 18:38
A group opposed to Chinese rule in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang has claimed responsibility for bombings around the country, saying they were part of a campaign against next months Beijing Olympics.
Chinese officials have repeatedly raised the possibility of a terrorist attack and used it to justify a security crackdown. However, the claims brought to media attention by the US terrorism monitoring company IntelCenter are certain to heighten security concerns around the Games, which open on August 8.
Chinese police on Sunday dismissed the weekend claims, made in a video issued by members of the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority who called themselves the Turkestan Islamic party.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted local police as saying there was no evidence linking fatal bus bombings in the south-western city of Kunming and in Shanghai in May with terrorist activity or the Olympics. Xinhua said other attacks referred to in the video had not happened.
Senior Chinese security officials have said Xinjiang separatists are one of the most pressing threats to the Games. China has claimed its police had killed five knife-wielding members of a Uighur group waging holy war.
Exile Uighur groups have accused Beijing of exaggerating the danger from Xinjiang groups in order to justify a crackdown in the region, which they call East Turkestan.
Chinas moves to silence dissidents and step up monitoring of social activists have drawn criticism from human rights groups.
In a reference to such complaints, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, said: Security threats have to be dealt with and that is fully understood by everybody, but security should not become in any way a cover to try to deal with dissent.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
By Mure Dickie in Beijing
Published: July 27 2008 18:38 | Last updated: July 27 2008 18:38
A group opposed to Chinese rule in the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang has claimed responsibility for bombings around the country, saying they were part of a campaign against next months Beijing Olympics.
Chinese officials have repeatedly raised the possibility of a terrorist attack and used it to justify a security crackdown. However, the claims brought to media attention by the US terrorism monitoring company IntelCenter are certain to heighten security concerns around the Games, which open on August 8.
Chinese police on Sunday dismissed the weekend claims, made in a video issued by members of the Uighur Muslim ethnic minority who called themselves the Turkestan Islamic party.
The official Xinhua news agency quoted local police as saying there was no evidence linking fatal bus bombings in the south-western city of Kunming and in Shanghai in May with terrorist activity or the Olympics. Xinhua said other attacks referred to in the video had not happened.
Senior Chinese security officials have said Xinjiang separatists are one of the most pressing threats to the Games. China has claimed its police had killed five knife-wielding members of a Uighur group waging holy war.
Exile Uighur groups have accused Beijing of exaggerating the danger from Xinjiang groups in order to justify a crackdown in the region, which they call East Turkestan.
Chinas moves to silence dissidents and step up monitoring of social activists have drawn criticism from human rights groups.
In a reference to such complaints, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, said: Security threats have to be dealt with and that is fully understood by everybody, but security should not become in any way a cover to try to deal with dissent.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008