US aid worker killed in Pakistan

Gunmen in Pakistan have shot dead an American aid worker and his driver in the north-western city of Peshawar. The men were killed just outside their office in the University Town area. It is not clear who the attackers were. Violence has surged in the north-west in recent months with a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist militants. A number of missile strikes inside Pakistan’s tribal areas by US troops based in neighbouring Afghanistan have fuelled anti-American sentiment. The BBC’s Mark Dummett in Islamabad says that the security situation across Pakistan has steadily worsened over the past few years, with Taleban militants holding sway over a large stretch of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). But our correspondent says attacks of this kind on foreigners in Pakistan are rare. Across the border in Afghanistan aid workers and other foreigners have increasingly been targeted in recent months. Gunmen attacked the car of a US diplomat in Peshawar in August, but she survived unhurt. Our correspondent says that it is more common for militants in Pakistan to launch suicide bomb attacks against military or government targets. ‘Under investigation’ The US embassy has refused to identify the man until his next of kin are informed.

But an embassy spokesman confirmed that the victim was an American. He said the dead man was not a diplomat nor was he travelling on an official assignment. US media reports identified the aid worker as Stephen Vance. Earlier reports had given his name as Stephen David. Police say the American worked for a US-funded project to help develop the troubled tribal belt – a large swathe of which is now controlled by militants. Eyewitnesses say the aid worker and his driver were shot by a group of masked gunmen as they drove to their office in University Town, a wealthy suburb of the main city in north-west Pakistan. The attackers blocked the men’s vehicle in a narrow street with their own car before opening fire with automatic weapons, officials said. “Several bullets hit them, and they died in the vehicle,” police official Arshad Khan told the Associated Press. Bombings Meanwhile, two Pakistani security officers were killed and several others were injured in a suicide attack in north-western Pakistan, officials said.

Peshawar was hit by a suicide bombing on Tuesday

The suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a temporary security forces camp in Shabqadar area of Charsadda district, 25km north of Peshawar. Areas close to Peshawar – the biggest city in north-west Pakistan – are known to be Taleban and al-Qaeda strongholds. The region has been hit by several bombings and suicide attacks recently. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber walked up to the gate of a stadium in Peshawar and blew himself up. The attack happened as the governor of North West Frontier Province left after a sports tournament. He was unhurt but at least one man was killed and three people were injured.

 

Somalis grow fearful of Islamists

By Mohamed Mohamed BBC Somali Service

Public anger at the recent stoning of a 13-year-old girl in Somalia shows the growing resentment towards radical Islamists who have gained control of much of the south and centre of the country. Insurgents from the militant group al-Shabab are seen as authoritarian and unaccountable – unlike the Islamists who were in control of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2006. Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was stoned to death for adultery in the southern port city of Kismayo, which was taken control by al-Shabab and its allies in August.

I don’t know what crime she committed other than being raped – and I was not even allowed to see her body Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow’s aunt

Her 62-year-old aunt told the BBC that the teenager had in fact been raped by three armed men – and she took Asha to the police station to report it. Several days later, after two suspects had been arrested, she was asked to return to the station with her niece. To her surprise the girl was taken into custody too. “I tried to speak to the police but they said they were not talking,” she said. Three days later, after Asha had been tried in an Islamist court, she was stoned to death. “They said that the girl had chatted up these men and had confessed to adultery,” she said. But the aunt said the authorities clearly failed to notice her age, how mentally disturbed she was by her experience, or her history of mental illness. “She was only 13 years old. I have got her card from Hagarder refugee camp which has her age on it. She might have looked a bit older, but you could tell her age by talking to her,” she said. Law and order Other critics point to the lack of lawyers, witnesses or appeal process. The Islamists were reported to have announced their verdict the day before the stoning from cars with loudspeakers. But Asha’s aunt was not informed of the court’s decision – despite repeated visits to the police station.

A public flogging in Mogadishu Enlarge Image

“I was not even told that she was to be killed, I just heard it from people after it happened. “I don’t know what crime she committed other than being raped; and I was not even allowed to see her body,” she said. Al-Shabab in Kismayo has refused attempts by the BBC to discuss the stoning. It is almost two years since the Ethiopian-backed interim government ousted the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which had ruled much of Somalia for nearly six months. In 2006, the UIC was generally welcomed for the law and order it brought to a country bedevilled by more than a decade of civil war and clan fighting. UIC fighters launched an insurgency following what many Somalis regarded as an Ethiopian invasion. Its youth and military wing, al-Shabab, gained notoriety for its determination, despite its much smaller numbers. Fear The group, which is on the US terror list and is said to have links with al-Qaeda, has since split from the UIC, angered by its current peace negotiations with the government. It does not work against the UIC, but it favours co-operating with other groups including: • The Kaanboni, led by Hassan Turki, who is also on the US terror list • The Islamic Front, a new group about which very little is known. For example, since mid-August, when they captured the Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Gedo regions from local clan militia, they now share the administration with existing officials.

According to well-informed sources in the regions who requested anonymity, these groups instil fear among the local population. “You keep quiet and follow the commands of the Islamists, or emigrate to neighbouring countries, or simply die and leave this world,” one of them said. In Mogadishu, al-Shabab insurgents are said to move around the city freely – often in vehicles captured from the government. The government forces and troops from Ethiopia and the African Union are limited to the airport, port, presidential palace and a few military camps. Besides the central city of Baidoa, these are the only areas government forces now hold. When they attempt to move between these points, they are often ambushed by the Islamists. A few weeks ago, al-Shabab held a military parade in a former military camp in the capital, where they carried out a public flogging of two men sentenced by an Islamic court over a family dispute. The flogging took place in front of crowds of local residents, and was orchestrated to show just who is running the show. Death threats Al-Shabab insurgents have a countrywide organisation, threatening anyone they perceive to be supporting the government with text messages.

They are wrong if they committed a kidnap. They will have to be punished under Sharia law Hiiran’s al-Shabab Chairman Sheikh Ali Dheere

One human rights activist outside the capital told the BBC that he was ordered to close down his offices. He said he began receiving quite frequent threatening messages on his mobile. So he stopped using his phone. Eventually a relative brought him a stern message from al-Shabab. It said if he did not stop his work, he would be killed. As the government has lost ground over the last five months, the number of attacks on civil society activists, local non-governmental workers and international aid workers has increased. Some have been shot dead point-blank; others have been kidnapped and are still missing. Most suspect that those behind the attacks are al-Shabab insurgents, even if no-one dares say so publicly. In the central Hiiran region, where most towns have seen a presence of al-Shabab and the more moderate UIC since July, people have been more vocal in their complaints. ‘Not Islamic’ A former army engineer and political activist detailed examples of those targeted because of their association with Ethiopia or the West. “They have killed 17 civilians without reason or due process including two teachers and a well-known traditional elder, Da’ar Hirsi Hooshow,” the man, whose name is being withheld for his own safety, told the BBC. The teachers worked at a school that taught English and employed foreign staff. The shooting of Mr Hooshow, who was known to be holding talks with Ethiopian troops before he was shot dead on 10 October, prompted angry scenes in Beled Weyne. Town residents stoned al-Shabab centres believing them to be behind the killing. And while the UIC may share al-Shabab’s aim to see the Ethiopians leave the country, it has distanced itself from its former allies. On Monday, UIC authorities in Beled Weyne arrested nine al-Shabab members for allegedly kidnapping an official over the weekend “We didn’t ask them to do any operation at all,” Hiiran’s al-Shabab Chairman Sheikh Ali Dheere told the BBC. “They are wrong if they committed a kidnap. They will have to be punished under Sharia law,” he said. But many fear that law and order is not al-Shabab’s priority. “They are holding this region with the barrel of the gun, and it has nothing to do with Islam,” the Hiiran political activist said.

 

Al-Qaeda!

 

Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan

Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan

Many people have fled Bajaur for refugee camps

The UN’s refugee agency says 20,000 people have fled Pakistan’s tribal area of Bajaur for Afghanistan amid fighting between troops and militants. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says almost 4,000 families have crossed into Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Some 300,000 others have been displaced by fighting, although Pakistan says many have found shelter in the region. The country’s military has launched an offensive in Bajaur and says it has killed more than 2,000 militants. However, the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, believes that the majority of those who have left will return home after fighting stops in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Cross border attacks Announcing its estimates of the numbers of people who have crossed the border into Afghanistan, the UNHCR in Afghanistan said more than 600 families had left Pakistan for Kunar in recent weeks. Villagers taking on the Taleban Displaced by ‘war on terror’

A spokesman said the organisation would look out for the welfare of the displaced if they were unable to return home before winter sets in. “It’s very difficult to predict the security situation on the other side of the border but what we hope is that the security gets better and people will be able to go back,” Nadir Farhad told Reuters news agency. “But if it continues, we will definitely provide them with… assistance… so we can get them through the winter months.” The UNHCR says most of the 20,000 who have fled over the border are Pakistanis, but a few thousand are Afghans who have been living in Pakistan. Recently the UNHCR asked donors for more than $17m (39.4m) in aid to help about 250,000 people displaced by fighting and floods in north-western Pakistan. They said money was needed to provide relief items like tents, blankets and plastic sheets. Dangerous situation Pakistan’s army is engaged in a fierce campaign against militants in the north-west of the country. Attempts by the government in Islamabad to negotiate with militants in areas along the border with Afghanistan appear to have failed, correspondents say. The country has been hit by a spate of recent suicide bombings widely blamed on militants – including a devastating attack this month on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The bombing killed more than 50 people, most of them Pakistanis. Militants use the tribal areas as a base for operations in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan. The Taleban and al-Qaeda are believed to operate in these border areas after being pushed out of Afghanistan. Their presence in the border regions have prompted a number of US attacks inside Pakistan. Those attacks have angered Pakistan’s government, and there have been incidents around the border involving Pakistani troops firing warning shots at US helicopters.

 

Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan

Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan

Many people have fled Bajaur for refugee camps

The UN’s refugee agency says 20,000 people have fled Pakistan’s tribal area of Bajaur for Afghanistan amid fighting between troops and militants. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says almost 4,000 families have crossed into Afghanistan’s Kunar province. Some 300,000 others have been displaced by fighting, although Pakistan says many have found shelter in the region. The country’s military has launched an offensive in Bajaur and says it has killed more than 2,000 militants. However, the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, believes that the majority of those who have left will return home after fighting stops in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Cross border attacks Announcing its estimates of the numbers of people who have crossed the border into Afghanistan, the UNHCR in Afghanistan said more than 600 families had left Pakistan for Kunar in recent weeks. Villagers taking on the Taleban Displaced by ‘war on terror’

A spokesman said the organisation would look out for the welfare of the displaced if they were unable to return home before winter sets in. “It’s very difficult to predict the security situation on the other side of the border but what we hope is that the security gets better and people will be able to go back,” Nadir Farhad told Reuters news agency. “But if it continues, we will definitely provide them with… assistance… so we can get them through the winter months.” The UNHCR says most of the 20,000 who have fled over the border are Pakistanis, but a few thousand are Afghans who have been living in Pakistan. Recently the UNHCR asked donors for more than $17m (39.4m) in aid to help about 250,000 people displaced by fighting and floods in north-western Pakistan. They said money was needed to provide relief items like tents, blankets and plastic sheets. Dangerous situation Pakistan’s army is engaged in a fierce campaign against militants in the north-west of the country. Attempts by the government in Islamabad to negotiate with militants in areas along the border with Afghanistan appear to have failed, correspondents say. The country has been hit by a spate of recent suicide bombings widely blamed on militants – including a devastating attack this month on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The bombing killed more than 50 people, most of them Pakistanis. Militants use the tribal areas as a base for operations in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan. The Taleban and al-Qaeda are believed to operate in these border areas after being pushed out of Afghanistan. Their presence in the border regions have prompted a number of US attacks inside Pakistan. Those attacks have angered Pakistan’s government, and there have been incidents around the border involving Pakistani troops firing warning shots at US helicopters.

 

Somalia’s pirates seize 33 tanks

Somalia’s pirates seize 33 tanks

The waters off Somalia are among the most dangerous in the world

A Ukrainian ship seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia was carrying 33 tanks and other weapons, the Ukrainian defence minister has confirmed. Earlier, the country’s foreign ministry said the ship had a crew of 21 and was sailing under a Belize flag to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. There has been a recent surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia. Russia announced on Friday it would start carrying out regular anti-piracy patrols in the waters off Somalia. A navy spokesman said a warship had been sent to the area earlier this week and the aim of the deployment was to protect Russian citizens and ships. Somalia has not had an effective national government for 17 years, leading to a collapse of law and order both on land and at sea. Somali pirates are currently holding more than a dozen hijacked ships in the base in Eyl, a town in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. It was not immediately clear where the Ukrainian ship had been taken. Speed boats The Ukrainian foreign ministry said the captain of the Faina cargo ship had reported being surrounded by three boats of armed men on Thursday afternoon Defence Minister Yury Yekhanurov confirmed that 33 Russian T-72 tanks and “a substantial quantity of ammunition” were aboard. He said all the weapons had been sold in compliance with international agreements, according to a Ukrainian news agency. The cargo’s final destination was unclear, with reports suggesting either Kenya or south Sudan. Battles and looting in Mogadishu Life in Somalia’s pirate town

Security analyst Knox Chitiyo told the BBC the incident showed that the waters off Somalia’s coast had “become a global security problem”. “Piracy has become big business and there seems to be no concerted response to the problem,” said Mr Chitiyo, from the London-based Royal United Services Institute. Last week, France circulated a draft UN resolution urging states to deploy naval vessels and aircraft to combat piracy in the area. France has intervened twice to free French sailors kidnapped by pirates. Commandos freed two people whose boat was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month. After an earlier raid in April, six arrested pirates were handed over to the French authorities for trial. International navies have been escorting humanitarian deliveries to Somalia, where a third of the population needs food aid. Flourishing industry Pirates have seized dozens of ships from the major shipping routes near Somalia’s coast in recent months. Senior UN officials estimate the ransoms they earn from hijacking ships exceed $100m (£54m) a year. International navies have been escorting aid deliveries

Pirate “mother ships” travel far out to sea and launch smaller boats to attack passing vessels, sometimes using rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). Authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland say they are powerless to confront the pirates, who have been growing in strength. In Eyl, where ships are held for ransom, a flourishing local industry has developed. Insurgents in Somalia, not known to have links to the pirates, are currently battling a combination of government troops, their Ethiopian allies and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu and other parts of southern Somalia. The US has an anti-terror task force based in neighbouring Djibouti and has carried out several air strikes against the Islamic insurgents, accusing them of sheltering al-Qaeda operatives.

 

How Bagram destroyed me

‘How Bagram destroyed me’

Jawed Ahmad has just been released from US military detention at Bagram air base near the Afghan capital, Kabul. In a rare insider’s account of the base, he alleges abuse and, most controversially, that prison guards mishandled the Koran. He spoke to the BBC’s Martin Patience. For Jawed Ahmad the last 11 months have been the worst of his life. Jawed Ahmad says he will fight to his ‘last breath’ for justice

“They destroyed me financially, mentally and physically,” says Mr Ahmad, 21, wearing a traditional shalwar kameez and sporting a thin, wispy beard. “But most importantly, my mother is taking her last breath in hospital just because of the Americans.” Mr Ahmad was detained for almost a year in the Bagram air base where US forces imprison suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters. He was freed last Saturday. The facility has a controversial past – two Afghans were beaten to death by their American guards in 2002. ‘Don’t move’ Jawed Ahmad was a well-known journalist in Kandahar working for Canadian TV and on occasions the BBC. Previously, he had spent two and half years as a translator for American special forces. For nine days they didn’t allow me sleep – I didn’t eat anything Jawed Ahmad Profile: Bagram air base Family visits for Bagram inmates

So, when a press officer from an American military base asked him to come for a chat, he thought nothing of it – these people were supposed to be his friends after all. “At once around 15 people surrounded me and dropped me to the floor,” says Mr Ahmad, becoming increasingly animated as he spoke. “They shouted at me saying ‘don’t move’ and then they take me to the prison.” Mr Ahmad says that the prison guards – he assumes they were American – then hit him and threw him against truck containers. But he says that the abuse did not end there. “For nine days they didn’t allow me sleep. I didn’t eat anything – it was a very tough time for me,” he says. “Finally, they told me you’re going to Guantanamo Bay.” He was accused of supplying weapons to the Taleban and having contacts with the movement. Mr Ahmad protested, saying that as a journalist it was his job. They then, he says, shaved his head and put him in an orange jump suit. But before leaving Kandahar – his guards had one final message. “I will never forget it,” he says. “They said ‘you know what?’, and I said ‘what’ and they said there is no right of journalists in this war.” ‘Unconscious’ Despite the threat of being sent to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Mr Ahmad was flown to Bagram air base about 70km (40 miles) north of the capital, Kabul. Bagram serves as a military base, airfield and detention centre

It’s where the US military detains about 600 prisoners whom they define as unlawful combatants. “When I landed first of all they stood me in snow for six hours,” he says. “It was too cold – I had no socks, no shoes, nothing. I became unconscious two times.” He continued: “They learned one word in Pashto ‘jigshaw, jigshaw’ – it means ‘stand up’. And when I became unconscious they were saying ‘jigshaw’.” For the next 11 months Mr Ahmad was held at the facility – he says that he was unsure why he was there, and when, if ever, he would be released. He says he and his fellow prisoners were taunted continuously by the guards. “I thought they were animals,” he says. “When they cursed me, I cursed them twice. I challenged them.” Mr Ahmad says he was sent into solitary confinement after an article appeared in the New York Times about his incarceration, which apparently irritated the guards. He says he was chained in the cell in stress positions making it almost impossible to sleep. But most inflammatory of all, Mr Ahmad says that other prisoners told him that the guards mishandled the Koran. “They didn’t do it only one time, not two times, they did it more than 100 times. They have thrown it, they have torn it, they have kicked it.” The day Mr Ahmad learned he was being set free was an emotional moment. “Sometimes I laughed, sometimes I cried, sometimes I prayed,” he says. ” Finally, the next morning they just released me.” Denial In a statement, the US military at Bagram air base said that there was no evidence to substantiate any claims of mistreatment. They added that Mr Ahmad had been turned over to the Afghan government as part of a reconciliation programme. But Mr Ahmad says that he will pursue justice for what has happened to him. “I will fight to my last breath to get my rights,” he says. ” I will knock on the door of Congress, I will ask Obama, I will ask Hilary Clinton, even Bush – I will not leave any person.”

 

Deadly bomb blasts hit Istanbul

Deadly bomb blasts hit Istanbul

At least 16 people have been killed and 154 wounded in two explosions in the Turkish city of Istanbul, in what officials say was a terrorist attack. The first blast occurred in a rubbish bin in the busy Gungoren residential area. The second, larger explosion occurred as crowds gathered. No group has claimed responsibility, but security services said the attack bore the hallmarks of Kurdish rebels. President Abdullah Gul said the attack showed “the ruthlessness of terrorism”. After the explosions, there were scenes of panic, with people covered in blood as they tried to run from the scene. TV footage showed many victims lying on the street and being carried to ambulances in blankets. Hidden in bins Initial reports suggested it may have been a gas leak, but Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler later said he was “certain that this is a terror attack” aimed at causing maximum casualties. The blasts occurred about ten minutes apart around 2200 local time (1900 GMT) on a busy pedestrian street. The editor of the New Anatolian newspaper, Ilnur Cevik, told the BBC that about 1,000 people had been in the area at the time. The first explosion was caused by a small device placed in a rubbish bin in front of a bank. Afterwards, a crowd gathered in the area. Then a second bomb placed in another bin about 50m from the first exploded minutes later. “The first explosion was not very strong,” Huseyin Senturk, the owner of a nearby shoe shop, told the Associated Press. “Several people came to see what was going on. That’s when the second explosion occurred and it injured many onlookers.” Mr Guler said police believed the blasts were not suicide bombings, but activated either remotely or by means of a timer. “This is an abhorrent attack. Unfortunately, the fact that the explosion took place in a crowded place increased the number of the casualties,” he said. “An extensive investigation is being conducted at present at the scene of the incident.” Turkish media quote police sources as saying the attack bears the hallmarks of the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), possibly in revenge for a series of major operations by the Turkish military on its bases in recent days. The BBC’s Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says the PKK has bombed civilians in Turkish cities in the past, but so have Islamist militants and other radical groups. In November 2003, more than 60 people were killed by a series of suicide bombings in Istanbul which the authorities linked to al-Qaeda. Kurdish rebels carried out a spate of attacks on tourist sites in Turkey in 2006, killing more than a dozen people. ‘Brutal attack’ As the police investigation continues, Turkish politicians have condemned Sunday’s attack. President Gul said: “I condemn the perpetrators of this attack which demonstrates the ruthlessness of terrorism and its goal to engage in savagery without any regard for women, men, the elderly or children.” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan such attacks only strengthened Turkey’s determination in its fight against terrorism. A politician from Mr Erdogan’s governing AK Party, Murat Mercan, told the BBC that Turkey would not give in to terrorists. “Terrorists are trying to destabilise the country, but Turkey has already a lot of experience on this terrorism so it won’t distract our country, our society from daily, ordinary life,” he said. Earlier this month, three policemen and three gunmen were killed in a gun battle outside the US consulate in a northern suburb of Istanbul. Police said they believed the attackers were members of a Turkish Sunni fundamentalist group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders Front.

Police inspect the scene, Terrorists are trying to destabilise the country : Murat Mercan, AK Party

The Gungoren district is popular with local people taking an evening stroll

here bombs hits…

 

Police out as torch hits Xinjiang

Security was tight as the Olympic torch began passing through China’s mainly Muslim Xinjiang region, on a highly sensitive part of its trip to Beijing. Police were out in force as the flame left People’s Square in the capital, Urumqi, on its run around the city. The torch will spend three days in the region, which is home to around eight million Muslim Uighur people. Ties between Chinese authorities and the Uighurs are tense. Officials fear separatists could target the relay. The relay has been moved forward by a week, in an apparent attempt to avoid unrest. The torch’s visit to another potential hotspot, Tibet’s main city, Lhasa, has also been moved up. Terror allegations In Urumqi, very tight security was put in place ahead of the relay. Police carried out vehicle checks and set up checkpoints in the normally busy city. Firecrackers were banned and many local people asked to stay away, reports said. People entering People’s Square had to pass through metal detectors while police searched their bags, AFP news agency reported. The majority of the crowd that gathered in the square were Han Chinese, the agency said. Many Uighurs resent the large-scale influx of Han Chinese settlers into the resource-rich region. Some groups are fighting to establish an independent Islamic nation, leading to periodic violence in Xinjiang. Beijing accuses the groups of links to al-Qaeda and this year claims to have foiled at least two Xinjiang-based plots targeting the Olympic Games. But human rights groups accuse the Chinese authorities of using the alleged terror links as a way of cracking down on the independence movement.

CHINA’S UIGHURS Ethnically Turkic Muslims, mainly in Xinjiang Made bid for independent state in 1940s Sporadic violence in Xinjiang since 1991 Uighurs worried about Chinese immigration and erosion of traditional culture

 

Police out as torch hits Xinjiang

Security was tight as the Olympic torch began passing through China’s mainly Muslim Xinjiang region, on a highly sensitive part of its trip to Beijing. Police were out in force as the flame left People’s Square in the capital, Urumqi, on its run around the city. The torch will spend three days in the region, which is home to around eight million Muslim Uighur people. Ties between Chinese authorities and the Uighurs are tense. Officials fear separatists could target the relay. The relay has been moved forward by a week, in an apparent attempt to avoid unrest. The torch’s visit to another potential hotspot, Tibet’s main city, Lhasa, has also been moved up. Terror allegations In Urumqi, very tight security was put in place ahead of the relay. Police carried out vehicle checks and set up checkpoints in the normally busy city. Firecrackers were banned and many local people asked to stay away, reports said. People entering People’s Square had to pass through metal detectors while police searched their bags, AFP news agency reported. The majority of the crowd that gathered in the square were Han Chinese, the agency said. Many Uighurs resent the large-scale influx of Han Chinese settlers into the resource-rich region. Some groups are fighting to establish an independent Islamic nation, leading to periodic violence in Xinjiang. Beijing accuses the groups of links to al-Qaeda and this year claims to have foiled at least two Xinjiang-based plots targeting the Olympic Games. But human rights groups accuse the Chinese authorities of using the alleged terror links as a way of cracking down on the independence movement.

CHINA’S UIGHURS Ethnically Turkic Muslims, mainly in Xinjiang Made bid for independent state in 1940s Sporadic violence in Xinjiang since 1991 Uighurs worried about Chinese immigration and erosion of traditional culture