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Minnie Chan

Three members of the Yi ethnic group were arrested in Olympic co-host city Qingdao, Shandong province, for trying to sneak into a military airport, police said yesterday.
A spokesman for the Qingdao Public Security Bureau denied Sunday's break-in was related to terrorist attacks as alleged by a Hong Kong-based human rights group.
China News Service last night quoted the police spokesman saying the trio were just thieves.
The spokesman also said the suspects were only looking for opportunity  and  were not targeting the military. The break-in happened at Cangkou military airport.
Two of the trio fled the scene after they were spotted by security guards.
Police immediately issued arrest warrants for the two, and they were arrested on Monday together with an accomplice.
Earlier yesterday, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said a security guard was injured wrestling two intruders outside a gate to  the airport.
The centre said the two fled after they had failed to subdue the guard, leaving behind explosives and belongings, which police used to confirm that the assailants were Yi  from Meigu county in Sichuan.
With five boxes of explosives stolen last month from a Meigu factory, police had been on the alert for attacks in Qingdao, which has been the host for the Olympic sailing events, the centre said.
Mainland police have stepped up security during the Olympic period and kept a close eye on minority groups such as Uygurs and Tibetans.
Government officials have insisted that the mainland is safe despite fatal attacks on policemen and bombings in Xinjiang, home to the Uygurs, this month.
Unlike past practice,  police have swiftly clarified reports of alleged terrorist attacks in the past month - an apparent attempt to avoid unnecessary fear and speculation.



Three try to break into military airport