Heavily armed security forces were out in force in China's volatile Urumqi city on Tuesday close to where police shot dead two Muslim Uighurs who state media said were calling for jihad. Large groups of police armed with semi-automatic weapons and batons were deployed close to the scene of yesterday's violence,where Chinese authorities said police shot and killed two Uighur "lawbreakers" and wounded another. The shootings showed the capital of the northwest Xinjiang region remained a powder keg more than a week after ethnic unrest on July 5 left at least 184 people dead,despite an ongoing security clampdown. An Algerian-based Al-Qaeda affiliate meanwhile called for reprisals against Chinese workers in north Africa,according to an intelligence report by London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt. The call came from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,the Stirling report said. It is the first time Osama bin Laden's network has directly threatened China or its interests,it noted. Xinjiang is a huge mountainous region bordering eight countries,including Pakistan and Afghanistan. Its Muslim Uighur community has long chafed at Chinese rule. Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China would take all precautions to protect its overseas interests,while not commenting directly on the alleged Al-Qaeda threat.
