Beijing, 8 August (AKI) – Nine people were reported to have been killed on Friday in an explosion in the northwest Chinese city of Ili, in the country’s predominantly Muslim province of Xinjang.
Local sources told a correspondent from the Arab television network, al-Jazeera, that a big explosion occurred hours before the Olympic Games were due to begin in Beijing on Friday (Photo).
It was not immediately clear whether the explosion was caused by a deliberate attack or an accident.
A Jihadist group, Ansar al-Jihad, said on Thursday it planned to post a video related to attacks which killed 16 policemen in the restive northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang on Monday.
Last month a group calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party claimed responsibility for several bus bombings in Shanghai and Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan.
Turkestan is another name for Xinjiang. The province is home to several ethnic groups but is mainly made up of Muslim Uighurs, who have a Turkic language and culture.
Uighur separatists have for decades waged a campaign against Chinese rule.
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