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Beijing confident of hosting Games safely

BEIJING: Beijing is prepared to respond to any security threat and has the confidence and capability to host a safe Olympic Games, said an official with the organising committee of the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday.

“We are confident and capable of holding a safe Olympic Games under the leadership of the Chinese government and with the help of the international community,” said Sun Weide, a media official of the Beijing Organising Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG), at a press conference in the Games’ Main Press Centre (MPC).

Asked about a suspected terrorist attack that killed 16 border police in Xinjiang on Monday, Mr. Sun said security as the “foundation and a key part” of a successful Olympics.

China has established a coordination group for Olympic security, which involves all relevant government departments, and has adopted necessary, effective security measures in accordance with international common practice and Chinese laws, he said. “Currently, all security measures relating to the Olympic Games have been implemented in a comprehensive manner, and we are prepared to respond to all kinds of security threats,” he added.

Meanwhile, the gun and explosives found at the site of the attack on policemen in Kashi City were similar to those used by East Turkistan terrorists, said Xinjiang public security authority on Tuesday in Urumqi. The police found nine homemade explosive items and a homemade gun at the site of the suspected terrorist attack that left at least 16 border policemen dead and 16 injured on Monday.

The explosives and the gun were similar to those found by Xinjiang police at a training base of the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” in a crackdown in January 2007, according to the autonomous regional public security bureau.

Two knives and some propaganda posters advocating the ‘jihad’ were also discovered at the site, just 100 metres away from the Kashi border police division, said the bureau in a statement released on Tuesday.

The statement said the two suspects, who were arrested on the spot, lived in Kashi City.

One of the suspects is a taxi driver and the other a vegetable peddler, and the attack had been premeditated, said the bureau, citing initial investigation results.

One of the attackers drove a truck to ram into a team of more than 70 policemen who were jogging.

The driver and the other attacker also threw explosives at the team and the gate of the station.

Road checks have been strengthened across Xinjiang and the authorities in Kashi have ordered a full security alert in public places, including government office buildings, schools and hospitals. In Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi, special police used wireless ID check devices in routine street patrols.

The special police on duty said that the digital device can trace the ID data through the police network, and send out alerts if an ID matches that of a blacklisted suspect at large. — Xinhua

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