By Xinhua,
Beijing : At least eight people were killed in gunfire and bomb blasts Sunday in northwest China’s Xinjiang province, the regional administration said.
Explosions rocked Kuqa county, with a predominantly ethnic Muslim Uyghurs population fighting for an independent homeland, all through the day and “suicide bombers” carried out at least 12 attacks on government offices and security posts, police said.
The killed included seven attackers and a security guard, police said, adding that four people, including two policemen and two civilians, were wounded in the disturbance, two days after the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Police shot one of the bombers and arrested another who told interrogators that 15 people were involved in the attacks.
The whole county has been cordoned off and authorities have ordered all institutions and enterprises to suspend operation and roadside stores to close.
Xinjiang’s Communist Party in a statement called the attacks terrorist acts and said the Uyghur separatist group East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which had earlier vowed to disrupt the Beijing Games, was the suspect.