International   

Woman confesses to terrorist attempt on China flight

BEIJING: A 19-year-old woman of Uygur ethnic background has confessed to a failed terrorist attempt on a passenger plane that left Urumqi on March 7, China’s Ministry of Public Security announced on Thursday.

The Ministry issued a statement here about the investigation of the planned attack against a China Southern Airlines flight that took off from from Urumqi, capital of the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It said the suspect, Guzalinur Turdi, and others involved in the case were apprehended by police.

“On March 7, Turdi boarded the plane with a hidden explosive device that she got past airport security personnel. She went ahead with her plan for sabotage but was thwarted. She fully confessed,” the statement said.

Wang Lequan, Xinjiang’s Communist Party chief, told Xinhua last week that investigations had found that the incident was conducted by Eastern Turkestan separatists from abroad.

According to him, a man was also detained on board the flight. A third suspect, detained a week later, admitted that he had masterminded, instigated, and helped carry out the crime.

Flight CZ6901 left Urumqi at 10.35 a.m. on March 7, headed for Beijing. It made an emergency landing in Lanzhou, capital of neighbouring Gansu Province, at 12.40 p.m.

“The investigation showed that the incident was an organised and premeditated terrorist attack targeting the aircraft,” the statement said, adding that the case remained under investigation. “We are fully prepared for security threats from any side and completely capable of foiling any terrorist attack,” it said. According earlier reports, the attack was averted by air marshals on the flight and the plane landed in Lanzhou after the crew and air police reported the incident to the control tower. All the passengers and crew were safe and arrived in Beijing the next morning.

Sources from the airline said that crew members smelled gasoline on the woman as she left a toilet during the flight. They found a beverage can containing flammable liquid in a dustbin in the toilet. The drink had been replaced with the flammable liquid, using a syringe.

A week after the incident, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China issued a notice banning domestic air passengers from carrying liquids in their hand baggage.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang stressed that the case was being dealt with in accordance with the law.

“China’s relevant departments deal with related case according to law,” Mr. Qin said. — Xinhua

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

You cannot talk with irreconcilable elements, says Negroponte
Hu’s firm reply to Bush on Tibet
Iftikhar Chaudhary meets Asif Ali Zardari
“Loyal” Iraqis to be settled in U.K.
Basra fighting hits oil industry
Woman confesses to terrorist attempt on China flight
Requiem for the marriage?
Pranab meets David Miliband
Chidambaram meets IBF team

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu