Suspect 'confesses' terror plot, says China

Guzalinur Turdi, an Uygur ethnic, carried a camouflaged destructive device on board the plane after deceiving the airport security personnel but failed (in her attempt), China’s Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

The woman and “other people involved” had been arrested by the police after the plot was unearthed on March seven, official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

China had claimed that it had foiled a plot to crash China Southern Airlines aircraft after it took off from the restive Muslim-majority northwestern Xinjiang Uygur region with the killing of two terrorists in the same region in January.

Earlier, China said that a 19-year-old woman and a man were detained by the police after the plane made an emergency landing at Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province two hours after taking off from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang.

The third suspect, who was detained later, had admitted that he “masterminded, instigated and carried out the crime,” it had said.

The airliner sources said crew members smelt gasoline on the woman who was leaving a toilet during the flight and then found a can containing the flammable liquid in a dustbin of the restroom. China had also flayed criticisms that the two terror plots uncovered by it were a “fabrication” to curb dissent and an attempt to crackdown on the minority Uygur community. “Some people are deliberately linking Chinas combat against terrorism to Uygur people. This is their sabotage,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang had said. Exiled leader of Uygur community Rebiya Kadeer, staying in the US, had accused China of fabricating “terror plots” to use them as a pretext for a new campaign of repression. China said that during a raid in January, police had uncovered a plot by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement to establish a violent terrorist group.