Chinese authorities say they executed two men on Thursday in the
restive far-west region of Xinjiang for a deadly attack on border
police four days before the Olympic Games last year.
Court
officials announced the decision to execute Abdurahman Azat, 34, and
Kurbanjan Hemit, 29, to an audience of about 4,000 local officials and
residents at a stadium in Kashgar.
The execution was carried out later in private at a separate location.
The two men were members of China's predominantly Muslim Uighur minority.
The
attack was the worst of several before and during the Olympics that
left dozens of people dead. China claims separatist militants from the
northwest region intended use the heightened media attention on China
to gain publicity for their cause.
The two
men were sentenced to death in December for carrying out the August 4
attack in Kashgar and intending to "sabotage" the Olympics.
Seventeen
people were killed and 15 wounded when the men drove a truck into a
group of policemen and then attacked them with bombs and knives.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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