Terror attack in China ahead of Games kills 16

The two militants, who were later arrested, alighted from the vehicle, tossed explosives and hacked to death the guards with knives in front of a hotel, 200 metres away from border armed division, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Fourteen policemen were killed on the spot and two others died on way to hospital.

The authorities suspected the involvement of the banned “East Turkistan Islamic Movement” (ETIM), which, they said, was planning terrorist attacks during August one to eight ahead of the opening ceremony of Olympics, Xinhua said.

The separatist Uighur group had nearly a week ago claimed responsibility for a spate of bombings including the May five strike in the eastern city of Shanghai which killed three persons and an attack on police in Wenzhou, also in the east, on July 17 and had threatened of more attacks.

China has been bracing for terrorist attacks from Islamic militants, especially ETIM, in the run up to Olympics, deploying over one lakh security guards, besides over one million volunteers and installing 300,000 cameras to ward off any security threat.