Five police officers were wounded in the raid when three homemade grenades were thrown at them.
"Obviously, the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics," Wang Lequan, Xinjiang's Communist Party chief, told reporters.
The group had collaborated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an obscure grouping that is listed by the United Nations as an international terrorist group, according to Xinhua.
"The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event, but there are always a few people who conspire to commit sabotage. It is no longer a secret now," said Wang.
"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.
Separately, the Xinhua news agency quoted a high-level Xinjiang official as saying authorities Friday foiled a planned "terrorist attack" on a passenger plane flying from the regional capital Urumqi to Beijing.
Both officials were speaking on the sidelines of the national parliamentary session.
Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, told reporters about what appeared to be a planned hijacking Friday.
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," he said.
The crew stopped the would-be attackers and all passengers and crew were safe, he added.
Nur did not elaborate, saying only that authorities were investigating "who the attackers are, where they are from and what's their background," Xinhua reported. |
