Chinese authorities Saturday denied claims by a Uighur separatist group
that it was behind a pair of bus bombings in the southwestern city of
Kunming and the eastern city of Shanghai.
A group calling itself
the Turkestan Islamic Party took responsibility for Monday's explosion
in the city of Kunming which killed two people and for a May 5 bombing
in Shanghai which killed three people.
In an online video, the group threatened to carry out more attacks during the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
The state run Xinhua news agency reports Chinese authorities deny the bus blasts were terrorist attacks.
But
earlier, Chinese authorities had called the Kunming blasts sabotage and
said the explosions were deliberately set to go off at nearly the same
time.
The Turkestan Islamic Party also claimed responsibility
for two attacks on July 17. A tractor bomb blew up at a police in the
eastern city of Wenzhou and a plastics factory was bombed in the
southern city of Guangzhou.
China has increased security ahead of the Olympic Games, warning of possible terrorist threats.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
