多维社记者林桂明编译报导/今年八月，就在北京奥运会开幕的几天前，在新疆喀什曾发生了一起突发事件。据当时中国官员的描述，有一辆卡车冲入一列正在出操慢跑的武警队伍中，撞飞了许多名的武警。
中国官方报导称此次事件为由维吾尔族分裂份子执行的一次恐怖攻击，目标是破坏北京奥运。中国官员说，驾驶卡车的几名男子在撞倒武警后，还继续用弯刀和自制炸弹攻击了武警。他们说，至少有16名武警死亡，是自上世纪90年代以来，中国死伤最重的一次恐怖事件。
但是，喀什发生的这起袭击事件从一开始就非常混乱。从过程到使用的凶器－最先说是手榴弹；不，是炸弹；不，是卡车和弯刀。袭击者的身份最终被报导，分别是一名28岁的出租司机和一名33岁的卖蔬菜小贩，两人都是维吾尔族。然后，就像大多数在中国发生的敏感故事一样，在政府的沉默下，渐渐退出公众目光。
但是，《纽约时报》记者锲而不舍，事后找到了3名曾拍到事件过程的照片的游客。他们拍的照片最先曾出现在美联社的报导上。
这3名正好在事发现场附近的外国游客都对《纽约时报》讲述了不一样的事件经过，他们的说法挑战中国官方版本中的关键内容。一名游客还拍摄了27张照片。摄像者仍然坚持匿名。
纽约时报29日刊登了华裔记者黄安伟(Edward Wong)的这一篇题为“对中国一起袭击事件产生怀疑”（Doubt Arises in Account of an Attack in China）的报导。报导说，这3名外国游客和中国官方讲述的差异，包括，这几名目击者说，他们没有听到炸弹爆炸的响声，以及挥舞弯刀砍武警的人似乎也像是武警。他们说，明显看到穿武警制服的男子持刀攻击其他几名武警。
这就引出了几个问题：为什么武警在挥舞刀子？他们是在向几名弄到武警制服穿的袭击者报复吗？袭击者是否混入了武警，或者说，这是否是一次武警之间的冲突呢？
一名目击者说：“看起来似乎是一批警察在与另一批警察打架。”所有这几名目击者人都因为担心触犯中国政府，而要求不透露他们的姓名。
中国官员拒绝就此事多发表任何言论。喀什8月4日发生的袭击事件，只是八月间连续发生的4起袭击事件的开头，中国政府称这些事件都是由新疆分裂份子策划的。根据官方报道，几起攻击事件共导致至少22名武警和1名平民死亡。
8月5日，喀什地委书记史大刚说，前一天事件的凶手是两名维吾尔族男子，他们分别是一名出租车司机和一名卖蔬菜的，事件中，另有16名武警负伤。维吾尔族是一个信奉穆斯林的突厥民族，他们说新疆是他们的祖国，常常反抗汉族的统治。
史大刚说，当时，一名男子驾驶卡车，另外一名持武器跑到现场。他说，两名攻击者被捕前，每人扔了一枚炸弹。事后，武警共从他们身上发现9枚没有使用的爆炸装置、弯刀、小刀和一把自制手枪。
他从未提到攻击者穿着警察制服。中国的官方媒体新华社也没提过这点。北美版的香港报纸《明报》曾提过，还引用了新疆当地警员的话，但是，他们现在拒绝就此事发表言论。
长期以来，中国官员一直都试图把新疆的暴动描绘为一种是非分明的冲突，称策划攻击的是东土耳其斯坦伊斯兰运动的分裂主义组织。官员们在当地实施严厉的保安措施时，都说是受到恐怖主义的威胁。
但是，几名见证人所提供的现场记述与官方不符，显示出对这起暴力冲突可能有不同的看法。当记者于周五（26日）向一名驾车路过袭击事件现场的维吾尔族男子问起，他是否认为是恐怖分子策划了这次袭击时，他说：“他们说的是一回事，我们说的是另外一回事。”还有其他维吾尔族人说，攻击者多半是因为个人受了委屈，而做出那种行动的。
这3名外国目击者说，他们是从邦臣（Barony）酒店目睹了事件经过，该旅馆正好在武警营房和发生袭击暴力事件的另一家旅馆的马路对面。
一名外国游客拍摄了许多照片。其中3张已经由美联社在八月间发布。他向《纽约时报》展示了另外的24张照片。
这名拍摄了许多照片的游客说，8月4日早上8点左右，他正在窗口旁收拾他的背包时，听到一种撞车的声音。当他往外看时，看见一辆大卡车在撞倒了一根黄色的短柱子后，冲入街对面一组武警中。中国官员说，后来，这辆卡车冲入到一列70多名正离开武警营地慢跑的武警队伍中。
这名摄影者说，后来，这辆卡车撞倒了一根电线杆或是电话线杆，并撞上街对面另一家旅馆，怡全（Yiquan）宾馆的前门。一名穿着白色短袖衬衫的男子从驾驶座上摔下来。
这名摄影者说：“他的伤势挺重。他在打开车门后，摔倒在地面上。他没有爬起来。他在地上爬行了4、5秒钟。”
这名摄影者立刻跑过走廊去找与他一起旅行的两名同伴，其中一人是他的亲戚，一人是他的朋友，一起住在另外一间房间。
另外这两人也听到了撞车声，并已经来到了走廊。3人一起跑到摄影者住的房间的窗口前。摄影者说，这时，他已经离开了大约1分钟。他说，当回到窗口前时，已经看不见那名卡车司机了。
他的那位朋友说：“我记得看见的头一件东西，就是对面大楼墙里的那辆卡车。我还看见地面倒下了大约15人。所有人的身体都是东倒西歪的。一名倒在地上的男性，头顶着地面，四周流着一大摊血。”
他说：“我记得想到，‘这太离谱了。’我有那种离奇的感觉：到底发生了什么事？”
这几名游客说，后来，现场变得更离奇。
一名或者是两名穿着绿色制服的男子掏出弯刀，开始持刀砍几名倒在地上的，穿着相同制服的男子。
他的那名朋友说：“当这两名看起来像武警的男子－他们也穿着武警制服－拿起弯刀砍其他地上的武警时，立刻让我感到莫明其妙。”
他说：“我们一下子就愣住了。所有三个人都在奇怪：‘他们为什么要砍其他武警？’”
这时，那名摄影者首先拿起了照相机，蹲在窗口旁。他的头一张照片的数码记录时间是上午8点04分，最后一张是8点07分。头一张非常模糊，镜头显示的大部分被树木挡住了。不过，还是能够清楚地看到有几名武警在人行道上围住一名或者更多的人。
这名摄影者说，有两名男子，穿着绿色制服，跪在地上，脸部对着他住的旅馆，双手似乎被绑在背上。另一名穿着制服的男子开始拿弯刀打他们。
他说：“那名被砍的人满脸是血。很多武警都满身是血。还有一些武警漫无目标的在街上走动。另一些武警则坐在人行道边上，我想，他们可能是被吓坏了。一些则按着脖子在跑。”
3名游客说，当所有这些发生时，卡车传出一声小小的响声。那名朋友说，听起来像是汽车回火了。这部卡车的前头部分冒出黑色的浓烟。
他的朋友对事情经过的描述与这名摄影者稍微有点不同。他说，他看见的是两名穿着制服的男子，拿着弯刀，在砍两名倒在地上的男子。他说：“我记得他们中有一人还在动。他肯定受伤了，但是，仍然有小幅的动作。”
摄影者的亲戚看到的又有所不同。这名亲戚说，一名穿着绿色制服的男子，从卡车的方向走过来，这时“一名没有受伤的武警跑过来，开始拿着一把弯刀砍他。砍了几下，然后，被砍的这个人开始反击。”
这名亲戚说，在被砍了几刀后，那名穿制服的男子跌倒了，然后，至少另有一名武警过来踢他。
这3名游客都明确指出的一点是，这时，几乎可以肯定，拿弯刀的这些男子是武警，而不是暴徒，因为他们与其他在现场的另一些武警相互交谈。
游客们说，这种持刀的攻击有1、2分钟时间。摄影者的那名朋友说，然后，看到一名穿着制服的武警把弯刀交给另外一名手持弯刀的武警。摄影者拍下的一张照片就显示一名一只手握着两把弯刀的男子。另一张照片显示一名穿着制服的男子带着一把配有刺刀的来福枪，这是一种在中国非常少见的武器。
游客们说，这时其他武警则试图驱散在现场观望的市民。游客说，其中一名武警看到了这名外国摄影者拿着照相机站在旅馆的窗口前。
几名游客说，事发大约5小时后，武警封锁了他们住的旅馆，挨间的查问旅馆的住客。游客们说，他们看起来很和善，但是，不停的问照片和检查照相机。那名亲戚说：“他们问我们是否拍了任何相片；我们说没有。”游客们把照相机塞到了一个袋子里面。“他们问我们是否向外发了电子邮件。我说没有。”
这名摄影者说，吃早餐时，他看见白布包的尸体被人用担架抬到厢型车里。到了下午，当人们最终被允许离开旅馆时，看到工人们正在拿水管冲洗街道。
这时那辆卡车已经不见了。除了街对面一根弯曲的柱子外，根本就看不出这里曾发生过任何暴力事件。
Doubt Arises in Account of an Attack in China
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/world/asia/29kashgar.html?n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/China
By EDWARD WONG
Published: September 28, 2008
KASHGAR, China — Just days before the Olympic Games began in August, a truck plowed into a large group of paramilitary officers jogging in western China, sending bodies flying, Chinese officials said at the time.
They described the event as a terrorist attack carried out by two ethnic Uighur separatists aimed at disrupting the Olympics. After running over the officers, the men also attacked them with machetes and homemade explosives, officials said. At least 16 officers were killed, they said, in what appeared to be the deadliest assault in China since the 1990s.
But fresh accounts told to The New York Times by three foreign tourists who happened to be in the area challenge central parts of the official Chinese version of the events of Aug. 4 in Kashgar, a former Silk Road post in the western desert. One tourist took 27 photographs.
Among other discrepancies, the witnesses said that they heard no loud explosions and that the men wielding the machetes appeared to be paramilitary officers who were attacking other uniformed men.
That raises several questions: Why were the police wielding machetes? Were they retaliating against assailants who had managed to obtain official uniforms? Had the attackers infiltrated the police unit, or was this a conflict between police officers?
“It seemed that the policeman was fighting with another policeman,” one witness said. All of the witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of running afoul of the Chinese authorities.
Chinese officials have declined to say anything more about the event, which was the first in a series of four assaults in August in which officials blamed separatists in the Xinjiang autonomous region. The attacks left at least 22 security officers and one civilian dead, according to official reports.
On Aug. 5, the party secretary of Kashgar, Shi Dagang, said that the attack the previous day on the police officers, which also injured 16, was carried out by two Uighur men, a taxi driver and a vegetable seller. The Uighurs are a Turkic Muslim group that calls Xinjiang its homeland and often bridles at Han Chinese rule.
One man drove the truck, Mr. Shi said, and the other ran up to the scene with weapons. The attackers, who were arrested, had each tossed an explosive and when they were captured had a total of nine unused explosive devices, machetes, daggers and a homemade gun, he said.
He never mentioned attackers in security uniforms. Neither did reports by Xinhua, the state news agency. One publication, the North American edition of a Hong Kong newspaper, Ming Pao, did, citing police officials in Xinjiang, who now refuse to elaborate on the events.
Chinese officials have long sought to portray violence in Xinjiang as a black-and-white conflict, with separatist groups collectively known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement carrying out attacks. Officials cite the threat of terrorism when imposing strict security measures on the region.
But the ambiguities of the scene described by the witnesses suggest that there could be different angles to the violence. When asked whether terrorists were involved, a Uighur man who on Friday drove past the scene of the attack said, “They say one thing, we say something else.” Other Uighurs say the attackers were acting on their own, perhaps out of a personal grievance.
The three witnesses said they had seen the events from the Barony Hotel, which sits across the street from a compound of the People’s Armed Police, China’s largest paramilitary force, and another hotel outside of which the attack occurred.
One tourist took photographs, three of which were distributed by The Associated Press in August. He showed 24 others to The Times.
At around 8 a.m. on Aug. 4, the photographer was packing his bags by the window when he heard a crashing sound, he said. When he looked up, he said, he saw a large truck career into a group of officers across the street after having just hit a short yellow pole.
Chinese officials said later that the truck had barreled into 70 officers jogging away from the compound.
The photographer said that the truck then hit a telephone or power pole and slammed into the front of the other hotel, the Yiquan, across the street. A man wearing a white short-sleeve shirt tumbled from the driver’s side, he said.
“He was pretty injured,” the photographer said. “He fell onto the ground after opening the door. He wasn’t getting up. He was crawling around for four or five seconds.”
The photographer raced into the hallway to get his traveling companions, a relative and a friend, from another room.
The two others had also heard the crash and were already in the hallway. All three dashed to the window in the photographer’s room. The photographer said he had been gone for about a minute. Back at the window, he said, he saw no sign of the truck driver.
The friend said: “The first thing I remember seeing was that truck in the wall in the building across the street. I saw a pile of about 15 people. All their limbs were twisted every which way. There was a gentleman whose head was pressed against the pavement with a big puddle of blood.”
“I remember just thinking, ‘It’s surreal,’ ” he said. “I had this surreal feeling: What is really happening?”
The tourists said the scene turned even more bizarre.
One or two men dressed in green uniforms took out machetes and began hacking away at one or two other men dressed in the same type of uniforms on the ground.
“A lot of confusion came when two gentlemen, it looked like they were military officers — they were wearing military uniforms, too — and it looked like they were hitting other military people on the ground with machetes,” the friend said.
“That instantly confused us,” he said. “All three of us were wondering: ‘Why are they hitting other military people?’ ”
The photographer grabbed a camera for the first time and crouched down by the window. His first photograph has a digital time stamp of 8:04 a.m., and his last is at 8:07 a.m. The first frames are blurry, and the action is mostly obscured by a tree. But it is clear that there are several police officers surrounding one or more figures by the sidewalk.
The photographer said that there had been two men in green uniforms on their knees facing his hotel and their hands seemed to be bound behind their backs. Another uniformed man began hitting one of them with a machete, he said.
“The guy who was receiving the hack was covered in blood,” he said. “A lot of the policemen were covered in blood. Some were walking around on the street pretty aimlessly. Some were sitting on the curb, in shock I guess. Some were running around holding their necks.”
The friend recalled a slightly different version of the event. He said he had seen two uniformed men with machetes hacking away at two men lying on their backs. “I do kind of remember one of them moving,” he said. “He was definitely injured but still kind of trying to squirm around.”
The relative also saw something different. He said a man in a green uniform walked from the direction of the truck. “A policeman who wasn’t injured ran over and started hitting him with a machete,” the relative said. “He hit him a few times, then this guy started fighting him back.”
After being hit several times by the machete, the uniformed man fell down, and at least one other police officer came over to kick him, the relative said.
It became clear to the tourists that the men with machetes were almost certainly paramilitary officers, and not insurgents, because they mingled freely with other officers on the scene.
While all this was happening, the three tourists said, a small bang came from the truck. It sounded like a car backfiring, the friend said. Black smoke billowed from the front of the truck.
The machete attack lasted a minute or two, the tourists said. One uniformed man then handed his machete to another uniformed man who had a machete, the friend said. One of the photographs shows a man walking around clutching two machetes in one hand. Another photograph shows a uniformed man carrying a rifle with a bayonet, a rare weapon in China.
Other officers were trying to disperse civilian onlookers, the tourists said. One of the officers saw the photographer with his camera in his hotel room window, the tourists said.
For about five hours after that, police officers locked down the hotel and went room to room questioning people, the tourists said. They seemed unthreatening, the tourists said, but they kept asking about photographs and checking cameras.
“They asked if we took any pictures; we said no,” the relative said. The tourists had stuffed the camera into a bag. “They asked if we sent any e-mails. I said no.”
The photographer said that while at breakfast, he saw white body bags on gurneys being wheeled to vans. In the afternoon, when people were finally allowed to leave the hotel, workers were spraying down the street with hoses, he said.
The truck was gone. Except for a bent pole across the street, there was no sign that anything had happened.
