US warns of terror threat in China

BEIJING, June 9 (Reuters) The United States warned today of a possible terrorist threat against its interests in China, especially in the three major cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

''This threat also may exist for places where Americans are known to congregate or visit, including clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools or outdoor recreation events,'' the U S embassy said in a notice on its Web site.

U S citizens should be alert to possible threats, the notice said.

Chinese authorities were not immediately available for comment.

The warning gave no further details, but it comes two days after the killing in Iraq of al Qaeda militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U S airstrike in Iraq.

The embassy issued a similar notice in China in November, warning at that time that police had told them Islamic extremists could be planning attacks on luxury hotels in China.

China has not traditionally been a hotbed of terror attacks, but the government has accused ethnic Uighurs in its mostly Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang of using violence to agitate for an independent East Turkestan state.

Beijing has waged a campaign against Uighur activists in an attempt to crackdown on separatist sentiment, which rights groups say has been characterised by arbitrary arrests and closed trials.

REUTERS SHR HT1858