Mystery needle attacks appeared to spread outside China’s far western region as authorities arrested nine new suspects in three cities, officials said yesterday.
The suspects were recently detained in Hotan, Altay and Kashgar — cities in China’s south, north and west respectively — in connection with alleged attacks involving hypodermic needles, a press officer at the Xinjiang government press center in the provincial capital Urumqi said yesterday. He declined to give his name, as is customary.
Since last week, more than 500 people in Urumqi have reported attacks, though only about 100 showed evidence of being pricked. The bizarre stabbings led to mass demonstrations by tens thousands of Han Chinese earlier this month against what they said was a government that can’t guarantee their safety.
The needle assaults have aggravated tensions in the restive western region of Xinjiang where ethnic riots in July left nearly 200 dead.
A staffer surnamed Li at the propaganda department of the Communist Party in Kashgar confirmed that people had reported cases but said none showed any evidence of a syringe attack.
“As of now, according to the diagnoses, we haven’t confirmed any syringe attacks yet. Most of them only felt some sudden pain when they were walking in the crowd, and some of them felt they’d been tapped on the body. But the doctors and medical examiners did not find any signs of a hypodermic attack on their bodies,” he said.
The official China Daily reported out of 19 reported attacks in the three cities, only six were confirmed.
Calls to the city governments in Kashgar, Altay and Hotan were not answered yesterday.
Officials and state media have repeatedly blamed the attacks on separatists bent on destroying ethnic unity.
Ethnic rioting in early July by the minority Muslim Uighurs, followed by revenge attacks by Han Chinese, was the worst unrest in China in decades.
Reports of the needle attacks emerged several weeks ago though the size and scale remain unclear. None of the reported victims have suffered from illness, poisoning or other effects.
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