The terrorists killed and captured more than a month ago in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had planned an attack targeting the Beijing Olympic Games, a senior official said in Beijing on Sunday.

Chinese police smashed a terrorist gang in late January in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, killing two and arresting 15 others. Knives, axes, grenades and books about terrorism were seized.

"Obviously, the gang had planned an attack targeting the Olympics," said Wang Lequan, chief of the Xinjiang autonomous regional committee of the Communist Party of China on the sidelines of the national parliamentary session.

The group was said to have collaborated with the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group the United Nations labeled a terrorist organization in 2002.

"The Olympic Games slated for this August is a big event, but there are always a few people who conspire sabotages. It is no longer a secret now," said Wang.

"Those terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists are to be battered resolutely, no matter what ethnic group they are from," said the official, adding that such evil forces usually attempt to deceive the world under the name of ethnic and religious causes.

Wang vowed to adopt a strike-first policy against the "three evil forces" of terrorists, separatists and extremists, saying "we are prepared to strike whenever their conspiracies are detected."

Xinjiang police crushed a terrorist training camp in January 2007, in which 18 terrorists were killed and 17 others captured. The police also seized 22 hand grenades and more than 1,500 half-finished grenades, and some home-made explosives.

On Friday police foiled a planned attack on a passenger plane taking off from Urumqi. The attackers were stopped in time, and all the passengers and crew members on board were safe, according to Nur Bekri, chairman of the autonomous regional government, who added that further investigation is still going on.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2008)