|
Urumqi: China declared that 16 border police killed in a brazen truck attack just days before the Beijing Olympics were revolutionary martyrs, as their deaths were mourned on Thursday in the country's remote western Muslim territory, state-run media reported.
The assault in Xinjiang on Monday might have been aimed at casting a shadow over the games, which open on Friday amid extremely tight security in Beijing at the opposite end of the country.
Thousands of people lined the streets to honour the police in Kashgar, a far-flung city on the ancient Silk Road close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The police were killed during their morning jog by two assailants who rammed a stolen truck into the group before tossing homemade bombs and stabbing them. Sixteen other police officers were injured in the attack.
|
