Incident Summary:
08/04/2008: On Monday, in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China, two assailants drove a truck into a group of policemen jogging near the barracks. When the truck crashed, the assailants attacked the police with explosives described inconsistently as grenades or homemade bombs. Sixteen police officers were killed and 16 others were injured. One of the assailants was also injured. The assailants were identified as taxi driver Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, and vegetable vendor Abdurahman Azat, 33. The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement claimed responsibility for the attack. Sources also attributed the incident to the Turkestan Islamic Party.
Overview
GTD ID:
200808040004
When:
2008-08-04
Country:
China
Region:
East Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Xinjiang Uyghur
City:
Kashgar
Location Details:
Near the entrance to the Yijin Hotel.
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Police |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Border Police |
| Specific Description |
Police officers |
| Nationality of Target |
China |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
No |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
Yes |
| Extent of Property Damage |
Minor (likely < $1 million) |
| Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Explosives |
Grenade |
| Melee |
Knife or Other Sharp Object |
| Vehicle (not to include vehicle-borne explosives, i.e., car or truck bombs) |
|
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| The assailants used a truck as a contact weapon, as well as grenades. Authorities recovered nine bombs, a homemade gun, two long knives, and two daggers at the scene. |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
2 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
16 Fatalities / 17 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
16 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
| Total Number of Injured |
17 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
1 |
Sources
Sources
| The Guardian, "Militants Planned 'Year of Mourning' in China, Says Authorities," The Guardian, August 5th, 2008. |
| Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, "PRC Experts Link Terror Attacks in China to International Backgrounds," Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, August 5th, 2008. |
| Agence France Presse, "China Border Attack Kills 16 Police," AFP, August 4th, 2008. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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