Suspected separatists, killed in a raid in Muslim-dominated north-west China earlier this year, were supposedly planning an attack on the Olympic Games.

Two militants were killed and 15 arrested in the January 27th raid in Urumqi, capital of the vast Xinjiang region bordering several central Asian republics.

Five police officers were wounded in the raid when grenades were thrown at them.

A Xinjiang region Communist Party spokesman has also revealed that authorities foiled a planned terrorist attack only last Friday, on a passenger plane flying from Urumqi to Beijing.

He said the China Southern Airlines plane was forced to land in Lanzhou, capital of neighbouring Gansu province, because some people on board were attempting to create an air disaster,

The crew stopped the would-be attackers and detained tham.

All passengers and crew were safe.

At this stage, the fate of the would-be hijackers is unknown.

The Xinjiang region of 20 million people is largely populated by ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, who have traditionally opposed Beijing's rule and clamoured for greater autonomy.