Two terrorists who attacked police on August 4 in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have been sentenced to death by a local court, the Supreme People's Court said yesterday.

Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured in the 8 AM attack in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous on August 4, 2008, four days before the Beijing Olympics. [CCTV file photo]

Seventeen people were killed and 15 injured in the 8 AM attack in Kashgar, four days before the Beijing Olympics. The two terrorists, both natives of Kashgar, were identified as Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28. They were convicted of homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives.

The Kashgar court said the two mounted the terror attack to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games.

Armed with guns, explosives, knives and axes, the two men drove a stolen heavy truck toward a team of 70 police in a regular morning exercise, and also threw explosives and brandished knives at them. The two were seized on the spot.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2008)