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China guarantees safety

AFP, Beijing
China declared Tuesday it could guarantee a safe Olympics, even as it announced that Islamic militants were trying to wage a holy war aimed at destroy-
ing the Beijing Games that begin in three days.
"Terrorists" from home and abroad seeking an independent Muslim state for China's northwest Xinjiang region were involved, authorities said as security was increased there after an attack on Monday that killed 16 policemen.
The terror alert came as athletes continued to arrive in Beijing ahead of Friday's opening ceremony to launch the Games, which are being seen as a coming-of-age party for China after three decades of dramatic economic reforms.
"We can see clearly that these forces are trying to wage a psycho-
logical and violent battle against the Olympics," said Shi Dagang, Communist Party secretary of Kashgar, a city in the Xinjiang region that borders Central Asia.
"They want to turn the year 2008 into a year of mourning for China."
Shi said Xinjiang police had arrested 18 foreign "terrorists" this year, and that a major threat came from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a UN-listed terror group that reportedly operates in Xinjiang and Afghanistan.
Shi indicated the ETIM may have been involved in Monday's attack in Kashgar, as the explosives the two assailants used were similar to those found during a raid on one of the group's bases in Xinjiang last year.
"For these two people, it is very clear that they are part of violent terrorist forces," Shi said.
Nevertheless, Beijing Olympic organisers sought to reassure the 10,000 athletes and 500,000 other expected foreign visitors coming to China for the Games that they should not be concerned about security.
"We can guarantee a safe and peaceful Olympic Games.' organising committee spokesman Sun Weide told reporters.
China has already employed intense security throughout Beijing and across the country in the lead-up to the Games, with some veteran sporting officials saying they had not seen such a show of force since the 1980 MoscowOlympics.
In Xinjiang, members of its Muslim Uighur ethnic group have complained for months of a massive security crackdown rhallQs seen many people detained.
Xinjiang has about 8.3 million Uighurs, and many are unhappy with what they say has been decades of repressive Communist Chinese rule.
China announced security was ramped up to another level on Tuesday across Xinjiang, and in particular the famed oasis city of Kashgar.
The official Xinhua news agency
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