UIGHURS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR BEIJING BLAST.

The March 7 bomb attack against a Beijing public bus was carried out by Uighur militants from Xinjiang, according to a statement by the Turkey-based Organization for the Independence of East Turkestan. The militants threatened more of the same in retaliation for "Communist Chinese oppression" of Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, according to a statement made public in Taipei. The group claims that three were killed and ten injured in the explosion; the Chinese authorities said that no one was killed. (Reuter, March 9) Last month, Uighur militants staged several bomb attacks against public buses in the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region’s capital Urumqi, in retaliation for the Chinese military and police crackdown on Uighur demonstrations.

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