China grounds pilots from rebel region

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- China has grounded pilots from the rebel Uighur region and switched Uighur cabin staff to flights outside Xinjiang province to protect the Beijing Olympics.

The action follows a renewal of violence by Turkic-speaking Uighurs in Xinjiang province who are eager to establish a separate state of East Turkistan, the Times of London reported Monday.

Earlier this month, 16 police officers were killed in the ancient Silk Road town of Kashgar when two Uighurs attacked them with home-made bombs and knives.

Six days later some 15 Uighurs attacked several government buildings in a town on the edge of the Taklamakan desert.

The decision to ground three male pilots follows what officials described as an attempted terrorist attack aboard a plane en route to Beijing from Urumqi.

A Chinese aviation source said only three pilots in the Chinese aviation fleet are Uighurs.