Alleged plane hijackers die in hospital, Chinese state media reports

Ethnic Uighur man in China
Rights groups claim authorities are overstating the threat from Uighur militants in China's north-western region of Xinjiang. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters

Two men who allegedly tried to hijack a plane in China's restive north-western region of Xinjiang have died in hospital, Chinese state media said.

The Global Times newspaper said the suspects succumbed to injuries they received as they struggled with passengers and crew on board the flight from Hotan to Urumqi on Friday.

Officials allege that six Uighur men from Kashgar, aged between 20 and 36, had smuggled explosives onto the Tianjin Airlines flight and tried to break down the cockpit door.

A spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress exile group has blamed the brawl on a row over seating, denying that it was a hijack attempt.

The Global Times newspaper said that officials had confirmed the two subsequent deaths and that a Xinjiang government spokeswoman, Hou Hanmin, said two more suspects were being treated in hospital after reportedly mutilating themselves.

The propaganda office declined to confirm or deny the deaths when contacted by the Guardian.

Hou told Associated Press that the men took apart a pair of aluminium crutches and used the pieces to attack people as they tried to break into the cockpit. She added that police were still testing materials they had been carrying, thought to be explosives.


One microblogger told AP: "They had a long crutch that can be broken into pieces, and the pieces had sharp ends."

In another account, a businessman said the head of Xinjiang's grain bureau told him that its vice director, known only as Mr Liu, had been on board and had extinguished the fuse of a homemade explosive device.

The grain bureau confirmed that Liu had been on the flight but declined to comment further.

The plane, carrying 92 passengers – including six police officers – and nine crew members, returned safely to Hotan around 20 minutes after taking off, the Global Times added. Officials told the newspaper they were investigating how the suspected explosives had been smuggled aboard.

Chinese authorities have blamed separatist extremists in Xinjiang for several attacks in recent years, while rights groups argue that officials have overstated the threat from militants and have not provided sufficient proof of alleged incidents.

Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, said: "No media can freely go and interview the Uighurs. It's very difficult to guess how [the two men] died and under what circumstances.

"China oppresses and controls the Uighurs. It is always the Uighurs that are 'the problem' and that are blamed. China will not accept the Uighurs and their cultural, political and social conditions."

Friday's incident occurred days before the third anniversary of inter-ethnic riots in Urumqi, in which almost 200 were killed and many more injured.

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