BEIJING, March 9 AFP - Suspected separatists killed in a raid in Muslim-dominated northwest China earlier this year were planning an attack on the Olympic Games, a top Chinese official said today, state media reported.
The gang had planned an attack targeting the Games, head, Xinjiang region Communist Party, Wang Lequan, said on the sidelines of China’s national parliamentary session, according to the Xinhua news agency.
``Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from,’’ said Wang, who is a member of the Communist Party’s politburo.
Xinhua provided no other detail of his comments on the reported plan.
Two militants were killed and 15 arrested in the January 27 raid in Urumqi, capital of the vast Xinjiang region bordering several Central Asian republics.
Five police officers were wounded in the raid when three homemade grenades were thrown at them.
Separately, a senior Xinjiang official said authorities had Friday foiled a planned ``terrorist attack’’ on a passenger plane flying from Urumqi to Beijing.
The China Southern Airlines plane was forced to land in Lanzhou, capital of neighbouring Gansu province, because ``some people were attempting to create an air disaster,’’ said Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government.
The crew stopped the would-be attackers and all passengers and crew were safe, he said.
Nur did not elaborate, saying the incident was being investigated, Xinhua reported.
The Xinjiang region of 20 million people is largely populated by ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, who have traditionally opposed Beijing’s rule and clamoured for greater autonomy.