China names injured teenage girl as terrorist suspect (Roundup)

Aug 11, 2008, 12:15 GMT

Beijing - China on Monday said a 15-year-old girl who was treated in hospital for injuries was a suspect in a series of terrorist attacks that left 12 people dead in its central Asian region of Xinjiang.

Paramilitary police shot dead eight suspected terrorists while two others 'blew themselves up' after the attacks in Xinjiang's Kuqa county town, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The girl, named as Hailiqiemu Abulizi, was injured while throwing an explosive device and then 'abandoned by her accomplices who drove away after seeing her injured by her own bombing,' the agency quoted a local police officer as saying.

Earlier reports said police believed that 15 people took part in the attacks on police and government buildings in the early hours on Sunday.

The reports said two suspects were arrested and three unidentified attackers were on the run, but it was not clear if the girl was among those five.

Doctors in Kuqa operated on the girl after she was admitted with 17 wounds including fractures to her left leg and foot, the agency said.

Officials from Xinjiang's Aksu prefecture, which administers Kuqa, said all the attackers were members of the Uighur ethnic group from Kuqa county and other areas.

But no clear evidence was found connecting the bombings in Kuqa to 'East Turkestan separatists,' the agency quoted the officials at a press conference in Kuqa as saying.

East Turkestan is the name still given to Xinjiang by Uighurs seeking an independent state there.

China has linked some previous attacks to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which is listed as an international terrorist group by the United States and the United Nations.

It was also 'unclear' if the bombings in Kuqa were connected with another attack that killed 16 paramilitary police nearby Kashgar city last week, Hasimu, the head of the Aksu government, was quoted as saying. Like many Uighurs, Hasimu just goes by one name.

The Kuqa attacks killed a security guard and injured five others, including two policemen, officials said.

One Uighur civilian who was injured in the attacks died in hospital on Monday, Hasimu said.

Several explosions and sporadic rifle fire rocked Kuqa between about 2:30 am and 4:00 am on Sunday.

Police said 'suicide bombers' attacked offices of the local government and the public security bureau.

They recorded 12 separate bombings in the county using devices made from bent pipes, gas canisters and liquid gas tanks, the agency said.

Police seized dozens of unexploded bombs and rescued 13 civilians, it said without elaborating.

A foreigner in Kuqa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa via telephone that there were nearly 20 strong explosions and flashes of light were visible, but no fire or smoke.

He said an aircraft flew overhead before the blasts occurred.

'The rifle fire began a half hour after the first explosion,' the witness told dpa. It was followed within minutes by explosions.

Xinjiang is known for unrest and is home to 8 million Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim ethnic group that has opposed Chinese rule.