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China probes games terror threat China dismisses bus bombs claim
(about 8 hours later)
China has said it is examining a statement from a separatist group which is threatening to attack the forthcoming Olympic Games. Chinese authorities have dismissed claims by a militant Islamist group that it was responsible for recent explosions on buses.
The group, calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party, also claimed to have carried out bomb attacks on buses. The Turkestan Islamic Party said that it had blown up buses in Shanghai and Yunnan, killing five people.
The blasts, in the port of Shanghai and the western province of Yunnan, happened over the last three months. It also said that it was planning attacks on the Olympic Games.
China has previously denied the explosions were the work of militants but has warned of threats to the games. Although China denies the explosions were acts of terrorism, it has recently arrested alleged militants it says were planning attacks on the games.
Earlier this month, officials said they had broken up five terrorist groups in the mainly Muslim Uighur region of Xinjiang region in the north-west. Critics say China has been exaggerating such threats to justify repressive measures in the mainly Muslim Uighur region of Xinjiang in the north-west.
Critics have said the threats are being exaggerated to justify repressive measures in the region. In Yunnan province, two explosions on buses last Monday left two people dead.
'No evidence'
But a public security official in Yunnan, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency on Saturday, said no evidence had been found linking the explosions with terrorism.
In Shanghai, where three people died in an explosion in May, police also denied a link to terrorism, Xinhua said.
The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said the Turkestan Islamic Party had released a video entitled Our Blessed Jihad in Yunnan.
CHINA'S UIGHURS Ethnically Turkic Muslims, mainly in XinjiangMade bid for independent state in 1940sSporadic violence in Xinjiang since 1991Uighurs worried about Chinese immigration and erosion of traditional cultureCHINA'S UIGHURS Ethnically Turkic Muslims, mainly in XinjiangMade bid for independent state in 1940sSporadic violence in Xinjiang since 1991Uighurs worried about Chinese immigration and erosion of traditional culture
The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said the group had released a video entitled 'Our Blessed Jihad in Yunnan'. In it, the group's leader, Commander Seyfullah, said it was responsible for several attacks and threatened next month's Olympics.
In it, the group's leader, Commander Seyfullah, claimed credit for several attacks and threatened next month's Olympics.
"Despite the Turkestan Islamic Party's repeated warnings to China and international community about stopping the 29th Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese have haughtily ignored our warnings," IntelCenter quoted him as saying."Despite the Turkestan Islamic Party's repeated warnings to China and international community about stopping the 29th Olympics in Beijing, the Chinese have haughtily ignored our warnings," IntelCenter quoted him as saying.
"The Turkestan Islamic Party volunteers who had gone through special preparations have started urgent actions.""The Turkestan Islamic Party volunteers who had gone through special preparations have started urgent actions."
China's foreign ministry said it was examining the claims. Earlier this month, Chinese officials said they had broken up five terrorist groups in the Xinjiang region which had been planning attacks on the Olympic Games.