BEIJING: The
Chinese police shot dead seven people whom it described as "
kidnappers" close to the country's
border with
Pakistan late on Wednesday. The official media said there is speculation that the case of kidnapping was linked to religious extremism in Muslim-dominated areas close to "the Kashmir region controlled by Pakistan and India". The police said they fired at "violent terrorists" who had kidnapped two people in the remote mountainous areas of Pishan county in Hotan prefecture. Hotan, which borders Pakistan, had witnessed riots in June in which 18 people were killed. The two hostages were rescued after the police killed the seven extremists and injured four others. One police officer was killed and another wounded in the rescue operation. Xinjiang's local government did not release any more details. The Chinese government is facing a dangerous separatist movement from a section of Muslim Uighurs seeking independent East Turkmenistan. The police reported in early December that the terrorists kidnapped and killed a Uighur Muslim for drinking alcohol, considered a taboo in Islam.
