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China cracks two terrorist groups: state media
Beijing (AFP) April 10, 2008 China has cracked two terrorist groups in its heavily Muslim west that were planning attacks aimed at the Beijing Olympics, the nation's security ministry said Thursday. "The terrorists, who numbered 45 in all, had attempted to carry out sabotage to undermine the Beijing Olympic Games," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Public Security Ministry spokesman Wu Heping as saying. In one case, police in the western Xinjiang region January broke up a group "sent from abroad" by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement to stage a violent attack, it said. Police seized a large amount of explosives, materials used in manufacturing explosive and Islamic "Jihad" training materials, according to Wu. Wu said all the suspects involved had confessed. Xinhua provided no details on the second case. China maintains it faces an imminent terror threat from the independence-minded East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is listed by the United Nations and the United States as a terrorist organisation. Xinjiang officials had already said last month that police on January 27 smashed a terrorist group planning an attack on the Beijing Olympics and that a separate bid to blow up a Chinese airliner was foiled in March. However, Chinese authorities had refused to publicise evidence relating to either incident, leading to questions from rights groups about whether they were fabricated to justify intensified security in the region ahead of the Olympics. It was not immediately clear whether Thursday's report was referring to the previously reported incidents. China said two terrorists were killed and 15 captured in the January 27 raid in Urumqi, but residents in the area told AFP last week they had no recollection of any violent clash. China has kept a tight lid on Xinjiang, whose millions of Muslims have long bridled at rule by Beijing. Safety measures have been beefed up on Chinese air travel after the alleged plane plot, in which China says a Muslim terrorist tried to blow up a jet with soft drink cans containing petrol on a flight from Xinjiang's capital Urumqi to Beijing. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links The Long War - Doctrine and Application
US Army Awards GD Biological Detection System Contract
Charlotte NC (SPX) Apr 10, 2008The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., has awarded General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products a contract option worth approximately $43 million to produce and test Joint Biological Point Detection Systems (JBPDS). |
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