China sentences Xinjiang attackers to death

Beijing: 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.

In the attack on August 4, a truck was rammed into paramilitary police on a morning training run in Kashgar, followed by explosives, and attacks by a homemade gun and knives.

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

The Intermediate People's Court of Kashgar convicted Abdurahman Azat, 33, and Kurbanjan Hemit, 28, of intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition, 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.