16 cops die in Kashgar terror strike
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:22 pm
Sixteen policemen were killed when two terrorists drove a truck into an electricity pole and threw two home-made explosives on the cops in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, around 8 am yesterday.Local security bureau officials said the group of 70 policemen were jogging during their regular morning drill in front of Yiquan Hotel, about 100 m from the border armed police division office, when they were attacked.The attack in China's westernmost city, which is close to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, came just four days before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games, prompting security forces across the country to raise the level of alert.Xinhua News Agency said the terrorists, identified as two Uygur men aged 28 and 33, hacked the injured policemen with knives, too. Fourteen policemen died on the spot and two on their way to hospital, and 16 were injured.No civilians were killed or inured, however. The two attackers have been arrested.Police said an arm of one of the attackers was blown off when he ignited a home-made explosive.All the 16 injured cops were treated at Kashgar Prefectural People's Hospital. Four of them were in the ICU, while the rest were out of danger, according to hospital source.