Two policemen die in attack in Xinjiang

Two Chinese policemen were killed in a knife attack in the western region of Xinjiang, the latest in a string of violent clashes between local Muslims and government authorities, the Wall Street Journal reported. The incident took place in a village in Jiashi county, about 65 kilometers from Kashgar, where 16 policemen were slain in an attack by militants in early August. According to a village-government official, a police patrol saw a group of suspicious people trying to hide in a cotton field. When the police attempted to question the group, they were attacked with knives. The officials said the motive for the attack was unclear. Tensions between the Chinese authorities and Xinjiang’s Uighurs, a largely Muslim people many of whom seek independence from Beijing’s rule, have risen this year. The Chinese government said Uighur separatists posed the most serious terrorist threat to the Beijing Olympics.