A strong earthquake rocked the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring 23 near the site of May's devastating quake that killed at least 70,000 people. The Olympic torch was paraded in the capital of Sichuan on Tuesday on its journey to Beijing, where the Games open on Friday. The 6.0-magnitude quake was epicentered in Sichuan's Qingchuan county, 1,253 km southwest of Beijing, the US Geological Survey said. Five people were seriously injured in the tremor, which had toppled a bridge cutting off a national highway, and cut roads to at least three villages, the official Xinhua news agency said. Authorities mobilized 200 paramilitary troops and militia to conduct relief and rescue work, but they would have to enter affected areas by foot, Xinhua said. The county's Communist Party secretary was leading a team to the area and the scale of the damage was still being investigated, the agency said. Qingchuan, badly hit by May's 7.9 magnitude earthquake, has suffered a number of strong aftershocks in recent months. A series of aftershocks hit the county late last month, killing one person and injured more than a dozen, state media said. The tremor came as China declared Tuesday it could guarantee a safe Olympics, though it also announced that Islamist militants were trying to destroy the Beijing Games. “Terrorists” from home and abroad seeking an independent Muslim state for China's northwest Xinjiang region were involved in an attack on Monday that killed 16 policemen, authorities said as security there was increased. “We can see clearly that these forces are trying to wage a psychological and violent battle against the Olympics,” said Shi Dagang, Communist Party secretary of Kashgar, a city in the Xinjiang region that borders Central Asia. “They want to turn the year 2008 into a year of mourning for China.” Shi said Xinjiang police had arrested 18 foreign “terrorists” this year, and that a major threat came from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a UN-listed terror group that reportedly operates in Xinjiang and Afghanistan. Shi indicated the ETIM may have been involved in Monday's attack in Kashgar, as the explosives the two assailants used were similar to those found during a raid on one of the group's bases in Xinjiang last year. “As for these two people, it is very clear that they are part of violent terrorist forces,” Shi said. In Xinjiang, members of its Muslim Uighur ethnic group have complained for months of a massive security crackdown that has seen many people detained. Xinjiang has about 8.3 million Uighurs, and many are unhappy with what they say has been decades of repressive Communist Chinese rule. China announced security was ramped up to another level on Tuesday across Xinjiang, and in particular the famed oasis city of Kashgar. Xinhua said police had increased road checks, while extra security forces had been sent to guard government office buildings, schools and hospitals. Nevertheless, Beijing Olympic organizers sought to reassure the 10,000 athletes and 500,000 other expected foreign visitors coming to China for the Games that they should not be concerned about security. “We can guarantee a safe and peaceful Olympic Games,” organizing committee spokesman Sun Weide told reporters. In Beijing, some athletes appeared more concerned that the final preparations for the biggest event of their lives were being hampered by the city's poor air, which has persisted despite emergency clean-up measures. Indonesian weightlifting team official Syafraidi Cut Ali said his squad were under strict instructions to stay in the open air as little as possible. “We stay in our bedrooms and the dining rooms, not in the open,” Ali said. “It is a problem.” Members of the US cycling team were also seen arriving at Beijing airport wearing masks.
