a flight to urumqi, in the troubled north-western chinese region of xinjiang, has been forced to return to afghanistan tonight following a bomb threat, state media have reported.
the official news agency, xinhua, originally said a flight had been hijacked, but withdrew that newsflash. it cited police sources in xinjiang for both claims. the plane has now landed in kandahar, according to "diplomatic sources" cited by the agency.
the news comes around a month after vicious ethnic riots in the regional capital of urumqi killed 197 people, and injured around 1,700.
xinhua said that aviation authorities had ordered urumqi airport to refuse the plane to land, but that armed police and emergency vehicles had rushed to the airport.
on tuesday, officials said that security forces had prevented five organised terrorist attacks on civilians in xinjiang, although they gave few details.
according to xinhua, police forces and state security authorities crushed five organised plots in urumqi, kashgar, aksu and ili.
the news agency said that "a group of suspects" had been captured, but gave no number for arrests or detentions. it added that "guns, controlled knives, explosives and materials advocating violence and terrorism" were seized.
last march, senior officials from xinjiang reported that flight attendants had foiled an attempted attack on a chinese passenger jet flying from urumqi, which made an emergency landing. a 19-year-old uighur woman was later blamed for the attempt.
while some analysts treated the reports with scepticism, and human rights groups warned that the government had a history of equating terrorism with separatism and even cultural expression, a report by the intelligence firm stratfor argued: "the slow release of information about this incident and the fact that it was labeled a militant plot well after the fact suggest that the plot was genuine. it seems the chinese themselves are only slowly coming to understand the implications of the incident and the details of what occurred seem to be supported by accounts that have appeared on various blogs from people who were onboard the plane."
据官方媒体报道，一架飞往乌鲁木齐的客机因炸弹威胁于今晚被迫返回阿富汗，乌鲁木齐是近来局势不安的中国西北地区新疆的首府。
官方新闻社新华社起初报道了一架客机遭遇劫持，但随后又撤下了这则简讯。这两条消息都援引自新疆当地的警方。新华社说据“外交人士”称，该客机现已降落在坎大哈。
这则新闻播发前约一个月，新疆首府乌鲁木齐发生了严重的民族冲突事件，共造成197人死亡，约1700人受伤。
新华社说航空部门已经要求乌鲁木齐机场拒绝该机降落，但武警和紧急车辆已迅速赶到机场集结。
当地官员周二称安全部队已经制止了5起旨在袭击新疆平民的有组织的恐怖袭击活动，但他们没有透露任何细节。
新华社还报道说，警察部队和国家安全部门已经在乌鲁木齐、喀什、阿克苏和伊犁共摧毁了5起有组织的恐怖策划活动。
另据新华社报道，“一伙嫌犯”已经被逮捕了，但没有公布被捕和刑拘嫌犯的人数。新华社还说警方缴获了“大量枪支、管制刀具、炸药和鼓吹暴力活动及恐怖主义的材料”。
去年3月，新疆当地高级官员说相关空乘人员阻止了一起阴谋袭击客机的策划活动，这架从乌鲁木齐起飞的客机随后实施了紧急迫降，一名19岁的维族女青年随后被指策划了那次事件。
然而有部分分析人士却对这些报道持怀疑态度，有组织警告声称，中国政府曾把恐怖主义同主义甚至文化诉求等同起来，情报公司斯特拉福（stratfor）发布了一则报告辩称：“此次事件的消息发布之慢以及在事件发生很久以后才将其定性为军事阴谋的事实均表明了该事件的真实性。中国人自己似乎已经开始懂得了此次事件暗示了什么，那些飞机上的乘客已经对事件在其博客中进行了描述，这些描述也刻画出了该事件的种种细节。”