Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS, May 9, 1997

Hong Kong AFP, 05/06/97

Beijing, May 6 (AFP) - The Mayor of Beijing Tuesday denied reports that

some of a series of bombs planted in the Chinese capital in March were

put there by unemployed workers.

"Unemployed workers have nothing to do with this matter," Jia Qinglin

said. "We don't have those sorts of problems here." He admitted no

arrests had been made in the March 7 bus blast, previously blamed on

Moslem Uighur separatists from Xinjiang province, but added "we have

uncovered several leads."

A Hong Kong newspaper last week said that while Moslem separatists were

responsible for the bus attack, two other bombs, one of which was

defused, had been planted in other parts of the capital by unemployed

workers. The workers belonged to a group calling itself the "Laid-Off

Workers Committee," the newspaper said.

The second of the bombs caused slight injuries to one person, it said.

Jia would not confirm that Moslem separatists were involved, neither

would he say what leads were being followed. The northwestern province

of Xinjiang has been struck since January by a series of riots and

bombings by pro-independence ethnic Uighurs fighting for an independent

homeland of East Turkestan. "For the moment we cannot confirm that it

was Uighurs. The inquiry is continuing and I hope it will soon end,"

he said. He also denied that anyone had been killed in the bus blast,

repeating the official toll of 12 injured, one seriously.

Witnesses at the time said at least three people May have died in the

blast at a main traffic intersection in Beijing's western Xidan

district. Exiled Uighur groups claimed responsibility for a spate of

bus bombings in February in the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, that killed

nine and injured 74. Acts of terrorism are virtually unknown in

Beijing, which has only experienced two previous reported bombings in

the past 20 years.