China hands death sentence to Xinjiang attackers

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has sentenced two people to death for an attack earlier this year that killed 17 people in the restive border region of Xinjiang, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday, citing the Supreme People's Court.

Attackers rammed a truck into paramilitary police on a morning training run on Aug. 4 in the oasis city of Kashgar, following up their attack with explosives, a homemade gun and knives.

Fifteen were injured in the attack, which took place just a few days before the Beijing Olympics began.

The two Kashgar residents, identified as Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, were convicted of intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives by the Intermediate People's Court of Kashgar, Xinhua said.

The two are a taxi driver and vegetable seller who were "bent on jihad", the city's Communist Party secretary said in August. One of the men lost his arm when he set off an explosive device during the attack.

Xinjiang is home to the Uighur people, a largely Muslim ethnic group whose language is related to Turkish. Many chafe under Han Chinese rule, complaining that they are marginalised economically and politically in their own land.

Chinese officials have said Uighur militants seeking to turn the region into an independent "East Turkestan" are among the biggest threats to the country's stability.