China denies Olympic link after stabbing of four guards

ATTACKERS jumped from a vehicle and slashed at civilian guards at a roadside checkpoint in China’s far west yesterday. Three were killed, extending a surge of violence that has accompanied the Olympic Games in Beijing.

It was the third deadly attack in nine days inthe oil-and-gas-rich region of Xinjiang on the border of Afghanistan, Pakistan and six Central Asian nations where Islamic separatists oppose the central government.

No one has claimed responsibility for the knife attacks. Government officials call them terrorism acts and insist they have nothing to do with the Olympics. They have not produced any evidence to back up their claims.