Report: Chinese border attack kills 16

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- At least 16 police officers were killed, and 16 more were wounded, after an attack on a border police station in western China on Monday morning, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A heavily armed policeman keeps watch at a security checkpoint in Xinjiang, China, on July 30.

A pair of attackers crashed a heavy truck into a group of police officers who were jogging near the station and then threw at least five homemade bombs into a police barracks, setting off an explosion, Xinhua reported. The attackers also hacked some of the police with knives, according to Xinhua.

The incident happened in Kashi, in the Xinjiang Uygher Autonomous Region, which is also known as East Turkistan. Both attackers were arrested.

Police suspect a terrorist plot behind the raid.

The regional public security department said it received clues suggesting the "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" planned to make terrorist attacks between August 1-8, Xinhua reported. August 8 marks the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Watch the significance of the attack »

The movement wants an independent, self-governing Xinjiang.

Last month, police said they had cracked five terrorist groups in the autonomous region where attackers hit the police station on Monday. Authorities said the groups were allegedly plotting to sabotage the Olympics, Xinhua reported.

The Xinjiang Uygher Autonomous Region is home to a Sunni Muslim ethnic minority.

Uyghers in Xinjiang are supposed to enjoy regional autonomy, as guaranteed by China's constitution, but some seek independence.

Millions of Han Chinese, the country's dominant ethnic group, have migrated into Xinjiang over the past 60 years, prompting complaints that they dominate local politics, culture and commerce at the Uyghers' expense.

The dissatisfaction has turned violent at times, including several and sometimes deadly bus bombings in 1992 in the provincial capital, Urumqi.

Officials blamed such incidents on Uygher groups who seek an independent Muslim state.

China insists only a small minority of Uygher support the separatists.

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