China Foils Olympics Terror Plot

Official Alleges Radical Islamic Terrorists Planned Violent Incidents Targeting Beijing Games

(AP)  Chinese police broke up a terror plot targeting the Beijing Olympics, and a flight crew foiled an apparent attempt to crash a Chinese jetliner in a separate case, officials said Sunday.

Wang Lequan, the top Communist Party official in the far western region of Xinjiang, said materials seized in a Jan. 27 raid in the regional capital, Urumqi, showed the plotters' planned "specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics."

"Their goal was very clear," Wang told reporters at a meeting of Xinjiang delegates in Beijing.

Wang cited no other evidence or sources of the information and earlier reports on the raid had made no mention of Olympic targets.

Speaking at the same meeting, Xinjiang's governor said a flight crew prevented an apparent attempt to crash a China Southern flight from Urumqi to Beijing on Friday. Nur Bekri did not specifically label the incident a terrorist act, saying it remained under investigation. No passengers were injured and police were investigating, he said.

The incidents may give greater force to China's arguments that extreme measures are necessary to ensure social stability and the safety of August's Olympics.

While deadly violence is less common in China than in many countries - Beijing bans virtually all private gun ownership - officials were quick to assert that a hostage drama involving 10 Australian travel agents last week was not an embarrassment in the run-up to the Olympics.

The hostage-taker was shot and killed by a police sniper after an almost three-hour standoff in the northern tourist hub, Xi'an. The motive was not known.

Chinese forces have for years been battling a low-intensity separatist movement among Xinjiang's Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim people who are culturally and ethnically distinct from China's Han majority. China has largely suppressed the violence, however, and no major bombing or shooting incidents have been reported in almost a decade.

China has ratcheted up anti-terror preparations ahead of the Games, with the nation's top police official last year labeling terrorism as the biggest threat facing the event.

Terrorism experts say the threat is low given China's tight social controls, but warn that Beijing's counterterrorism capabilities are weak, especially in intelligence gathering and analysis.

Earlier reports of the Janary raid in Urumqi said police found guns, homemade bombs, training materials and "extremist religious ideological materials". Two members of the gang were killed in the raid and 15 arrested. Authorities have not identified those killed and arrested or their targets.

The Global Times newspaper published by the Communist Party had earlier said the group planned bombings and other "violent terrorist incidents" for Feb. 5, the last business day before the start of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Wang said the group was been trained by and following the orders of a Uighur separatist group based in Pakistan and Afghanistan called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM. The group has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United Nations and the United States. East Turkestan is another name for Xinjiang.

China says its main terror threat comes from ETIM. Although the group is believed to have no more than a few dozen members, terrorism experts say it has become influential among extremist groups using the Internet to raise funds and find recruits.

Chinese forces reported raiding an ETIM training camp last year and killing 18 militants allegedly linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban.

"These guys are fantasizing if they think they can disrupt the Olympics," said Wang, known for his hardline stance on crushing dissent. "They don't have the strength."

Few details were available about the alleged attempt to crash the China Southern Airlines flight Friday morning. Bekri indicated that more than one person was involved, but did not specify whom police suspected in the attempt, saying it was under investigation.

"From what we presently know, this was an attempt to crash the plane," Bekri said.

"Because this incident just occurred, questions as to who these people were, where they came from what their goal was, what kind of background, we are currently investigating. Once we've investigated clearly, I believe you will then know," Bekri said.

He said the crew responded and the plane made an emergency landing in the western city of Lanzhou with no damage or injuries. He said it continued to its original destination, Beijing, after about one hour.

A man who answered the phone at China Southern's Urumqi office said the incident was under investigation and had no further details. He hung up without giving his name.

An airline spokesman at its southern hub of Guangzhou refused to answer questions about the incident and said all press inquiries had to be faxed to corporate headquarters.

While Bekri refused to further describe the incident, he prefaced his remarks with a denunciation of Uighur separatists, saying "high-pressure tactics" were the only way of dealing with the problem.

"Those in Xinjiang pursuing separatism and sabotage are an extremely small number," Bekri said.

"They may be Uighurs, but they can't represent Uighurs. They are the scum of the Uighurs."

[rushlimpdrug]

Alright china!
could you provide anti-terror merchandize to be sold in Wal-mart?

[rushlimpdrug]

Alright china!
could you provide anti-terror merchandize to be sold in Wal-mart?

[notblue]

More of the same from the cult that brought us 911.

[notblue]

More of the same from the cult that brought us 911.

[notblue]

More of the same from the cult that brought us 911.

[excoachken]

Sounds like the Chinese are offended that the Cowardly Cowboy has become better at spreading terror fear mongering than they have. No pictures and a month after the fact, they are going to have to upgrade their lies to keep up with the Bush/Rove team.

[cyberus-2009]

Why do I have this sneaking suspicion that this *plot* was *uncovered* to regain US support of the Beijing Olympics

[alphaa10-2009]

CBS regrets the inconvenience, but there will be no further posts negative to the PRC on the CBS system.

[alphaa10-2009]

test post

[alphaa10-2009]

If you launch a nation, don''t do it as a minority.

China''s Uighurs are persecuted for not looking Asian enough, just as Afghanistan''s Hazaras are persecuted for not looking Caucasian enough.

Ethnic bickering and score settling are as old as the human family, but we must remember children always bear the heaviest burden of such warfare.

Should we be surprised the Uighurs do not enjoy their forcible assimilation into the PRC? The Chinese already have told them in innumerable ways they do not belong. What are Uighurs to do with their religion, language and culture-- simply fade away and die?

Welcome to the "Genocide Olympics"! Another way of saying, you don''t have to live in Darfur to know the Imperial Chinese are alive and well.

[alphaa10-2009]

If you plan to launch a nation, don''t try it as a minority.

China''s minority Uighurs are persecuted for their Caucasian appearance, just as Afghanistan''s Hazaras are persecuted for their often Mongol features.

Persecution makes little sense in either case, of course. Never mind the Uighurs are not "Chinese" but forcibly assimilated into the PRC, like Tibet. What are they supposed to do, give up their culture and religion, and simply fade away and die?

Hazaras are the undercaste, but once were the overcaste descendants of Mongol hordes of Geghis Khan. Other tribes never forgot, and want payback-- the Hazara people are supposed to forget about their own future.

Ethnic bickering and settling scores is as old as the human family, but somehow, we must take human rights seriously enough to understand children always bear the greatest burden.

[apprxam]

Is Karl Rove the People''s Minister of Information mover there, or are they talking about the Houston Rocket front office?

[apprxam]

Is Karl Rove the People''s Minister of Information mover there, or are they talking about the Houston Rocket front office?

[striderman1]

Hello?

[eatech]

I have first hand knowledge that the Plane attack was Fake. It was set up to make it look like the Gov has it all under control.

And it was also to make them look good so the world would think everything is OK.

That is the thing about C***a they want thier people to think that they are wonderful and Great.

To bad it is all about saving face or making the face thing look good.

[fibonacci_]

fivck

[striderman1]

The Olympics certainly make an inviting target.

[fibonacci_]

oh

[libsrweak]

Putin has 80 % approval where as Bush 30 %...

which is more democratic???

Posted by obamagrls-bf at 12:47 PM : Mar 09, 2008
+ report abuse

**********

funny you said that, Hugo chavez has the same %, hitler had a higher one..fidel castro is almost 100%...are they democratic??

the higher the % the more i doubt the system...but then again you LIBERALS pretty much adore these type of people and thier system..

[obamagrls-bf]

HILLARY MATH

Next Tuesday in Mississippi, she shocks the political world by again winning 55-45.Then on April 22, the big one%u2014Pennsylvania%u2014and it''s a Clinton blowout: 60-40, with Clinton picking up a whopping 32 delegates. Enough blacks desert Obama to give North Carolina to Hillary in another big win, 55-45, netting her seven more delegates.May 13 in West Virginia is no kinder to Obama, and he loses by double digits, netting Clinton two delegates. Another 60-40 landslide on May 20 in Kentucky nets her 11 more. Oregon, a classic Obama state. Ooops! He loses there 52-48. Clinton wins by 10 in Montana and South Dakota on June 3 and the scheduled primary season ends on June 7 in Puerto Rico Clinton pulls off a 60-40 landslide, giving her another 11 delegates.

this fanciful calculation gives Hillary the lead, right? Actually, it makes the score 1,625 to 1,584 for Obama. A margin of 39 pledged delegates may not seem like much, but remember, the chances of Obama losing state after state by 20-point margins are slim to none.

So no matter how you cut it, Obama will almost certainly end the primaries with a pledged delegate lead, courtesy of all those landslides in February.

But that''s only under my crazy pro-Hillary projections. More likely, Obama would need about 50-100 of the approximately 500 uncommitted superdelegates, which shouldn''t be too difficult.