Thousands mourn fallen officers

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-8-8  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A relative of an officer killed in a terrorist attack faints yesterday during a service for 16 policemen in Kashi, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Two men drove a lorry and hit officers who were jogging on Monday in Kashi, leaving 16 dead and 16 injured. Explosives were also used in the attack. More in photo gallery

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THOUSANDS of residents in the northwestern Chinese city of Kashi yesterday paid their last respects to 16 police officers killed in a terrorist attack on Monday.

"The people of all ethnic groups in Kashi will remember you forever," said a banner held up by the crowd lining the streets in the border city of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"I feel very sad ... they shouldered a heavy responsibility for ensuring border security and our happiness," said fortysomething Uygur Muhanmetemin Azizi. "I came to pay my last respects."

Local authorities held an hour-long ceremony to remember the dead border police yesterday morning. The officers were bestowed with titles of revolutionary martyrs.

"We will spare no efforts to fight violent crime and terrorists," Shi Dagang, secretary of the Kashi Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China, told mourners.

Shi told reporters on Tuesday that terrorism was behind Monday's attack, which also left 16 officers injured.

Two suspects caught at the scene had confessed to the crime. Both locals of Kashi, they were identified as Abdurahman Azat, 33, a vegetable seller, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, a taxi driver.

They said they had observed the time and route the border police used for morning runs for more than a month.

Police found nine home-made explosive devices at the scene - two were detonated during the attack - along with other weapons.

The weapons were similar to those found by Xinjiang police at a training base of the terrorist group "Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement" in a swoop last year.