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China escalates its fight against terror

Shanghai Daily, May 14, 2014

• Beijing police deployed 150 armed patrol vehicles on the city's streets yesterday as part of its efforts to fight terrorism and maintain stability in the capital.

  A cyclist passes by armed policemen standing guard near their vehicle on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing yesterday. The Chinese capital has deployed 150 such cars on the streets. [Photo/Shanghai Daily]

  Each vehicle carries nine police officers and four assistants and they will become the 'principal forces' in countering terrorism and violence in Beijing, Xinhua news agency reported.

  Sources with the Beijing Public Security Bureau told Xinhua that the officers would mainly be responsible for incidents involving guns, bombs, mass violence and terrorism.

  The vehicles will also act as a deterrent, police said, and will be stationed at various major intersections to cover areas within a kilometer.

  Each vehicle is required to be at the scene of an incident within three minutes of receiving a call, Xinhua said.

  China has in recent years seen a string of violent attacks.

  Last October, a jeep crashed into a crowd of people in Tian'anmen Square, causing five deaths. Police said it had been a 'carefully planned, organized and premeditated' terrorist attack.

  Two passersby were killed and Usmen Hasan, his mother and his wife also died after they set their vehicle alight.

  Police found gasoline, knives and metal bars inside the vehicle.

  Beijing police carried out at least three anti-terror drills in the past three weeks.

  The latest drill last Thursday involved a police helicopter and more than 30 vehicles from SWAT units and traffic control and other emergency response departments, Xinhua said.

  The latest move is an escalation of the anti-terror fight at a time when attacks are spreading.

  It comes shortly after Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun urged deployment of as many police officers as possible at key public venues at crucial times.

  'We should keep the pressure on and dare to strike heavy blows and firmly foil such plans before they become realities,' Guo said during an inspection in central China's Hunan Province from May 6 to 9.

  Police on patrol in the cities of Shanghai, Kunming and Lhasa, were recently allowed to carry guns following a terror attack at a railway station in Kunming in March, and a later knife and bomb attack in Urumqi.

  Terrorists in China tend to use primitive weapons, such as knives and gasoline, as guns are strictly controlled.

  'The use of knives and gasoline by terrorists has undoubtedly added difficulties to combatting terror,' Li Wei of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations told Xinhua.

  Last Friday, the Beijing government published a notice on its website requiring residents who buy gasoline in bulk to register their names and intended use of the fuel at police stations.

  Mei Jianming, of the Chinese People's Public Security University, said the measures demonstrated the government's determination to fight terrorism.

  'It conveys a signal of deterrent to the potential terrorists and violent attackers,' Mei said.

  The university recently announced it would be recruiting 80 students from across the country for its new anti-terrorism course. Major units of the course include research on terrorist organizations, international cooperation, risk assessment, reconnaissance and evidence collection, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

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