Beijing: games safe from terror

China says it is confident the Olympic games will be secure, despite an attack which killed 16 policemen in the north west of the country yesterday, blamed on Muslim militants. And the ICC said it believed the authorities had done "everything possible to ensure the security and safety of everyone at the games".

A spokesman for the games, Sun Weide, said: "China has focused on strengthening security and protection around Olympic venues and at the Olympics Village, so Beijing is already prepared to respond to any threat."

Yesterday, state media in China reported that two attackers threw grenades, before moving in to attack with knives at a border post in the troubled Muslim region Xinjiang.

Uighur separatists, a Muslim group whose home is in the north-west of China, have been carrying out an anti-Chinese rule campaign for decades. Some human rights observers say the Chinese authorities suppress their rights.