Xinjiang explosions kill two as govt punishes officials

SHANGHAI — Two people were killed and several more injured in at least three explosions in China’s troubled far western region of Xinjiang on Sunday, state media reported yesterday, but gave few details.

The blasts came as China punished 17 regional officials and police “for being accountable” for a July 28 attack by masked militants, which led to almost 100 deaths of police officers, officials and civilians, as well as for the subsequent killing of a pro-Beijing imam.

An explosion in Luntai county, on the northern edge of the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang, hit a shop in the county seat, while two more blasts occurred in nearby townships on Sunday, news website www.ts.cn, which is run by the Xinjiang Communist Party committee, said.

Tight security has made it difficult for foreign journalists to visit the area, but the report suggested there had been other explosions, although it gave no details.

“At present, all the injured have been sent to hospital for treatment, local social order is normal and the cases are being investigated,” it said.

The government has blamed a surge in violence over the past year in Xinjiang, home to many Muslim Uighurs, on Islamist militants or separatists, whom it has said want an independent state called East Turkestan. State media has reported that hundreds have been killed in violence in the past year, including police officers.

Separately on Sunday, the Xinjiang party branch punished several police officers, county and town officials as well as an official of an Islamic association in Kashgar over the July 28 attack and the killing two days later of the imam of Xinjiang’s biggest mosque, reported Xinhua news agency.

It did not say how the 17 officials and police had been held accountable.

The government said 37 civilians were killed in the July 28 attack and 59 “terrorists” were gunned down by security forces in two towns in Shache county in Xinjiang’s far south. The police arrested 215 people, said Xinhua.

Shache’s party boss was demoted and stripped of his role, with others sacked, demoted or given warnings, Xinhua added, while saying that a former town-level lawmaker was promoted for his “timely reports and good performance” during the attack.

On July 30, three suspected Islamist militants armed with knives and axes killed Juma Tayir, a pro-government Uighur who led prayers at the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar.

Exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists have said the government’s repressive policies in Xinjiang, including curbs on Islam, have provoked unrest — a claim Beijing denies.

The government also announced guidelines on Sunday to specify which actions legally amount to terrorism or support of terrorists. State media said the guidelines had been issued earlier in the month.

Yesterday, the state-run Global Times newspaper reported that Chinese militants from Xinjiang had fled from the country to receive “terrorist training” from Islamic State fighters for attacks at home. The report was the first time state-run media linked the militants from Xinjiang to the radical Sunni Muslim group, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

“They want to not only get training in terrorist techniques, but also expand their connections in international terrorist organisations through actual combat to gain support for the escalation of terrorist activities in China,” the Global Times cited a Chinese “anti-terrorism worker” as saying.

The paper said militants from Xinjiang had recently been involved in Islamic State activities in Syria and Iraq, as well as with its “branches” in South-east Asia. It added in a report on its website that four suspected militants from Xinjiang were arrested in Indonesia this month.

The Indonesian police said last week that four foreigners were being questioned, but did not identify them. AGENCIES