The New Dominion

Here are links to BBC, AFP, and CNN reports on the story: according to the most current information, “assailants” leapt from a vehicle at a military checkpoint in Yamanya, about 30 kilometers from Kashgar, and stabbed four security officials, killing 3 and wounding 1. BBC notes that at this point the number of assailants is unclear. However, I’d like to add the observation that all 3 of these agencies are as usual sticking close to the “state report” released by Xinhua, and thus they conspicuously fail to mention the fate of the assailants, opening the possibility that they fled intact from the scene for the crime, which would set this incident aside from the previous two. We’ll keep our antennae up and post updates as soon as we learn about them.

Update: Some interesting on-the-scene reporting by the Times Online reveals that the suspects did indeed escape, and that the victims were neither police nor military, but were rather “neighborhood watch” style locals who were allegedly sleeping in a tent near the checkpoint when the attack occurred at 9:00 AM.

Below is a map indicating the site of the attacks:

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