BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday foiled a
planned attack on a passenger plane taking off from Urumqi, capital of the
northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, an official said here on Sunday.
The China Southern Airlines aircraft took off at
10:35, and landed in Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province, at 12:40
Friday, before reaching its destination Beijing, because "some people were
attempting to create an air disaster," said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang
regional government, on the sidelines of the ongoing parliament session.
The attackers were stopped in time by the air police,
and all the passengers and crew members on board are safe, he told reporters
after a panel discussion at the ongoing session of the National People's
Congress (NPC). The plane arrived in Beijing Saturday morning.
An official with the airliner told Xinhua in a
telephone interview that he cannot confirm whether the incident was a terror
attack, "it's up to the police department to verify."
The crew and air police reported the incident to
control tower, and landed in Lanzhou under the instruction of the tower, said
the aviation official on condition of anonymity.
The suspects were currently in custody in Lanzhou, an
official with the Xinjiang regional government said, without giving the number
of the suspects.
Nur Bekri, the regional government chairman, said
that the authorities are currently investigating "who the attackers are, where
they are from and what's their background."
"But we can be sure that this was a case intending to
create an air crash," he added.
Official: Terrorist attack prevented
for Olympics
BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The terrorists killed
earlier this year in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had
planned an attack targeting the Beijing Olympic Games, a senior Chinese official
said here on Sunday.
Chinese police smashed a terrorist gang in January in
Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, killing two and arresting 15 others. Knives, axes
and books about terrorism were seized. Full story
China vows to strike first in
combating terrorism
BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities would
adopt a strike-first policy against the "three evil forces" of terrorists,
separatists and extremists in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
a senior official said here on Sunday.
Wang Lequan, chief of the Xinjiang regional committee of
the Communist Party of China, made the remarks on the sidelines of the national
parliamentary session. Full story
