China's Supreme People's Court said Wednesday that two terrorists in the August 4 attack on police in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have been sentenced to death by a local court in the region.

Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured in the attack in Kashgar, Xinjiang on August 4, four days before the Beijing Olympics, the supreme court cited the Intermediate People's Court of Kashgar, Xinjiang, as saying.

The two terrorists, both locals of Kashgar, were identified as Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28. They were convicted of intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives.

The Kashgar court said the two conducted the terrorist attack to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games that began August 8.

The court said the two bought materials and made explosives, two guns and ammunition in February and March, and chose to attack the Kashgar border police.

They, armed with guns, explosives, knives and axes, drove a heavy truck that they stole to the site at around 6:00 AM and waited there. Two hours later, Abdurahman Azat drove the truck toward a team of more than 70 police in a regular morning exercise, killing 15 and injuring 13. When the truck turned over, he detonated explosives to kill another people.

At the same time, Kurbanjan Hemit threw explosives toward the gate of the police station and brandished a knife at the police who had been run over by the truck. He killed one police and injured two others.

The two were seized on the spot.

Police said that in the first half of this year alone, five terrorist groups were cracked in Xinjiang and 82 suspected terrorists detained.

(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2008)