2008 Kashgar attack

{{Infobox terrorist attack

|title= 4 August 2008 Kashgar attack

|partof=the Xinjiang conflict

|image= Xinjiang_Kashgar.svg

|caption= Kashgar is located in the northeast part of Kashgar Prefecture.

|location= Near Kashgar, Xinjiang, China

|target= Policemen

|date= 4 August 2008

|time-begin= 0800 (0000 GMT)

|time-end=

|timezone=

|type= Vehicular, IED and knife attack

|fatalities= 16

|injuries= 16

|perps=Kurbanjan Hemit
Abdurahman Azat
East Turkestan Islamic Movement (suspected)

}}

The 2008 Kashgar attack ({{zh|c=2008年喀什袭击事件}}) occurred on the morning of 4 August 2008, in the city of Kashgar in the Western Chinese province of Xinjiang. According to Chinese government sources, it was a terrorist attack perpetrated by two men with suspected ties to the Uyghur separatist movement. The men reportedly drove a truck into a group of jogging police officers, and proceeded to attack them with grenades and machetes, resulting in the death of 16 officers.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7542167.stm|title=China confident of safe Olympics|date=5 August 2008|access-date=5 August 2008|work=BBC News}}

Background

The region of Xinjiang in China has been subject to conflicts with a surge in terrorist incidents in the 1990s attributed to separatist militant groups, particularly the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.{{cite book |last1=B. K. Potter |first1=Philip |title=Terrorism in China: Growing Threats with Global Implications |publisher=Strategic Studies Quarterly}} The attack was among others that preceded the Beijing 2008 Olympics, including bombings in Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as an attempted suicide bombing on a plane in March.{{cite web |last1=Davis |first1=Elizabeth |title=Terrorism and the Beijing Olympics |url=https://jamestown.org/program/terrorism-and-the-beijing-olympics-uyghur-discontent/ |publisher=China Brief}} Activist groups including the Uyghur Human Rights Project alleges that China often exaggerates these threats to justify repression of the local Uyghur people.{{cite press release|url=http://www.uhrp.org/articles/1201/1/Rebiya-Kadeer-expresses-her-wish-for-a-peaceful-Beijing-Olympics-and-urges-Beijing-to-cease-its-harsh-repression-of-Uyghurs-/index.html|publisher=Uyghur Human Rights Project|date=18 July 2008|title=Rebiya Kadeer expresses her wish for a peaceful Beijing Olympics, and urges Beijing to cease its harsh repression of Uyghurs|access-date=9 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080809123208/http://www.uhrp.org/articles/1201/1/Rebiya-Kadeer-expresses-her-wish-for-a-peaceful-Beijing-Olympics-and-urges-Beijing-to-cease-its-harsh-repression-of-Uyghurs-/index.html|archive-date=9 August 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7540636.stm|title=Q&A: China and the Uighurs|date=4 August 2008|access-date=5 August 2008|work=BBC News}}

Attack

Two attackers were involved in the incident near the western city of Kashgar. The Xinhua News Agency said the attack happened at about 08:00 (00:00 GMT). One of the men drove a dump truck into a group of border patrol police officers as they were jogging on a street. One attacker then got out of the truck and started attacking other officers with homemade explosives. The explosives went off prematurely and blew off one of his arms. The other attacker threw improvised explosive devices at a nearby police office. He then went into the building with a knife, but was subdued by police officers inside the complex. Both perpetrators were captured during the raid. Fourteen policemen died at the scene and two died on the way to the hospital; another 16 policemen were hurt, Xinhua state news agency reported.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7540138.stm|title=Chinese border assault kills 16|date=4 August 2008|access-date=9 August 2008|work=BBC News}}

Aftermath

Following the attack, the Chinese government tightened security in Kashgar, placing public facilities on heightened alert and restricting information flow about the attack.{{cite news|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h862s2FKSh64WGrxRE3Is-uV_8eQ|title=Clampdown in China Muslim region after bloody attack on police|agency=AFP|date=4 August 2008|access-date=7 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806231809/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h862s2FKSh64WGrxRE3Is-uV_8eQ|archive-date=6 August 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jf4L5ib03dPJ1ov5Vv6jQTQqmMFAD92C96600|title=China tries to shrug off deadly attack|agency=Associated Press|date=6 August 2008|access-date=7 August 2008|first=William|last=Foreman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807230212/http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jf4L5ib03dPJ1ov5Vv6jQTQqmMFAD92C96600|archive-date=7 August 2008|url-status=dead}} The attackers were identified as males, taxi driver Kurbanjan Hemit (28), and vegetable vendor Abdurahman Azat (33).{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1829791,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080813142026/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1829791,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 13, 2008|title=Jihad in China's Far West|publisher=Time|date=6 August 2008|access-date=20 November 2014}} They are members of the Uyghur ethnic group, and it was suspected that the attack was a terrorist action by ETIM separatists.{{cite news|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/04/content_8953646.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080806233857/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/04/content_8953646.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 6, 2008|title=Terrorist plot suspected in violent attack on police in west China's Xinjiang|agency=Xinhua News Agency|date=4 August 2008|access-date=4 August 2008}}

Xinhua called the incident a terrorist attack.{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWA1HpopOpWg&refer=home|title=Xinjiang Border Patrol Attacked, 16 Dead, Xinhua Says|last=Avery|first=Nerys|publisher=Bloomberg|date=4 August 2008|access-date=9 August 2008}} Police investigators reported that they had recovered documents calling for a holy war, a homemade firearm, and nine explosives, {{cite news|url=http://www.mpinews.com/htm/INews/20080805/ca21800c.htm|script-title=zh:喀什恐怖襲擊部署一個月|access-date=9 August 2008|date=6 August 2008|language=zh|work=Ming Pao|location=Hong Kong|archive-date=18 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080818205426/http://www.mpinews.com/htm/INews/20080805/ca21800c.htm|url-status=dead}} whose design was similar to the explosives found in a raid on an ETIM facility in January 2007.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/china-tightens-security-following-deadly-attack-1.727404|title=China tightens security following deadly attack|agency=Associated Press|work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation| date=5 August 2008|access-date=5 August 2008}} A US intelligence monitoring group stated that the ETIM planned to carry out terrorist attacks during the week before the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games.{{cite news |title=Chinese Islamists threaten Olympics |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20080808-chinese-islamists-threaten-olympics-terrorism-olympics-2008 |agency=France 24}}{{cite news| url=http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25042008/3/interpol-chief-warns-olympic-terror-threat.html |title=Interpol chief warns of Olympic terror threat |agency=Agence France-Presse| publisher=Yahoo! Eurosport UK | date=25 April 2008}} This attack happened four days before the Beijing Olympics, after repeated warnings in recent months from the Chinese government that militants from the restive Xinjiang region were planning to stage attacks to disrupt the Games.{{cite news|url=http://www.france24.com/en/20080804-attack-xinjiang--policemen-china-killed-olympic-games&navi=MONDE|title=At least 16 policemen reportedly killed in bomb attack|access-date=5 August 2008|date=4 August 2008|first1=Caroline|last1=Delabroye|last2=Le Belzic|first2=Sébastien|publisher=France 24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811172140/http://www.france24.com/en/20080804-attack-xinjiang--policemen-china-killed-olympic-games%26navi%3DMONDE|archive-date=2008-08-11|url-status=dead}}

In September 2008, the New York Times reported that three tourists who witnessed the events claimed that no explosions were heard and that the attackers appeared to be machete-wielding police officers attacking other uniformed men.{{Cite news|last=Wong|first=Edward|title=Doubt arises in account of an attack in China|newspaper=International Herald Tribune|date=29 September 2008|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/29/asia/29kashgar.php?page=1|access-date=29 September 2008}}

=Detention of media=

On the night of 4 August, a Tokyo Shimbun cameraman and a Japanese TV reporter, along with two Hong Kong reporters making reports near the police post, were detained by security. The two Hong Kong reporters were not harmed. However, the Japanese reporters were beaten and punched. All four were released after two hours of detention. The Japanese government protested against the Chinese actions, although it has made no formal statement as there was no confirmation.{{cite news|url=http://www.mpinews.com/htm/INews/20080805/ca21239a.htm|script-title=zh:日本不滿武警毆打日記者|access-date=9 August 2008|date=5 August 2008|language=zh|work=Ming Pao|location=Hong Kong|archive-date=18 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080818205421/http://www.mpinews.com/htm/INews/20080805/ca21239a.htm|url-status=dead}} Chinese officials and police in Kashgar apologized for the incident, but accused the two men of breaking rules.