China Says Plane Diverted To Afghanistan By Threat


•China reports bomb threat on plane in Uyghuristan (No Xinjiang)

China reports bomb threat on plane in Uyghuristan China's state news agency says there has been a bomb threat on a plane from Afghanistan scheduled to land in Uyghuristan, the restive western region of China that was rocked by ethnic riots last month.

Xinhua News Agency earlier said the incident was a hijacking. It did not identify the airline, but said the Urumqi airport has been told not to allow the plane to land.

Xinhua says police and emergency vehicles have been rushed to the airport.

•Muslim women leading protests in W. China

Muslim women leading protests in W. China The petite Muslim woman with the sky-blue head scarf began by complaining that the public washrooms were closed at a crowded mosque on Friday -- the most important day of the week for Islamic worship.

When a group gathered around her on the sidewalk, Madina Ahtam railed against communist rule in China's far western region of Xinjiang, rocked by ethnic rioting that has killed at least 184 people this week.

The 26-year-old businesswoman eventually led the crowd, mostly men, in a fist-pumping march quickly blocked by riot police, some with automatic rifles pointed at the protesters.

•China says 83 formally arrested over Urumqi riot

China says 83 formally arrested over Urumqi riotChinese police have formally arrested 83 people on charges including murder and arson in connection with last month's deadly rioting in the western region of Uyghuristan (No Xinjiang), state media reported Tuesday.

The arrests mark the first step in prosecuting those implicated in the violence that saw Muslim Uighurs attack members of China's dominant Han ethnic group.

Police have said hundreds were detained following the rioting in Uyghuristan's capital of Urumqi, which the government says killed 197 people and injured more than 1,700 - the worst ethnic violence in China in decades.

•Uighur accuses China of inflaming ethnic tension

Uighur accuses China of inflaming ethnic tension China is inflaming ethnic tensions by deceiving its own people about last month's deadly riots in western Xinjiang province, an exiled Uighur activist whom Beijing blames for the unrest said Wednesday.

Rebiya Kadeer, a U.S.-based activist who is in Australia for the screening of a documentary about her life, told reporters that Beijing should be held accountable for the violent crackdown.
"The Chinese people should be very careful with the Chinese government's versions of the events and the ways and means the Chinese government employ ... to deceive, to some extent, the Chinese people, to create this kind of terrible relationship between two groups," Kadeer said.

•China welcomes 'moderate' US response to riots

China welcomes 'moderate' US response to riotsA Chinese diplomat voiced appreciation Tuesday for what he called the "moderate attitude" of the U.S. toward the ethnic clashes in China's oil-rich Xinjiang region that killed nearly 200 people.

Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya said U.S. officials also indicated that the U.S. informed China "unequivocally" that the violence involving Muslim minority Uighur (WEE'-gur) residents constituted a domestic affair of China.

Moments before Wang made his remarks at a news conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States voiced "concern" over the riots during two days of high-level talks between U.S. officials and Chinese envoys.

By GILLIAN WONG and AMIR SHAH
Associated Press Writers

BEIJING -- An Afghan plane bound for the restive western Chinese region of Xinjiang was sent back to Afghanistan after a bomb threat, Chinese media said Sunday.

Kam Air deputy chief Feda Mohammad Fedawi told The Associated Press that the plane, carrying 160 passengers, left Kabul and was crossing Kyrgyzstan on its way to the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, when it was told to turn back.

The Xinhua News Agency said there had been a bomb threat and Urumqi airport authorities had been told not to let the plane land.

Kyrgyz authorities told the crew that Chinese authorities would not allow them into their airspace, Fedawi said. The plane could not return to the Afghan capital because of windy weather and was diverted to the southern city of Kandahar, Fedawi said.

He said there had been no bomb threat.

There was no immediate way to explain the differing accounts.

Urumqi was the scene of China's worst ethnic violence in China in decades when rioting last month killed 197 people and injured more than 1,700, according to official count.

Fedawi said the plane's passengers and crew were fine and it was expected to return to Kabul on Monday morning.

He said the plane had been inspected by Afghan officers and a foreign security company before departure in a security check he described as unusually thorough.

A press officer for NATO forces in Afghanistan, which control the Kandahar airport, said the alliance had received no report of a plane forced to land there.

A Xinjiang regional government duty officer, who refused to give his name, said he had not received any information about the incident, while calls to the region's public security bureau rang unanswered.

Calls to the Urumqi airport's information counter also rang unanswered.

The government has said that Urumqi has slowly been returning to normal since the rioting erupted on July 5 after police stopped a protest by ethnic Uighur residents. The Uighurs went on a rampage, smashing windows, burning cars and beating Han Chinese - the nation's dominant ethnic group. Two days later, the Han took to the streets and attacked Uighurs.

Resource: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1178577.html