A Uygur young woman was seized on a passenger plane flying from Urumqi to Beijing after an air hostess smelled gasoline the woman brought on board as part of a suspected terrorist attack, according to the media's report yesterday.

The flight attendant detected the scent during the China Southern Airlines flight last Friday and traced it to the woman, who is aged 18 or 19, the Guangzhou-based newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources in Beijing.

The Ministry of Public Security would not comment on the case when contacted by the media.

The attendant questioned the woman, who became agitated, the report said. Crew members soon had the woman under control.

Another accomplice was caught trying to ignite fuel inside the plane's bathroom, the report said, citing an emergency notice circulated within the General Administration of Civil Aviation.

The plane made an emergency landing at Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province, at 12:40pm because "some people were trying to create an air disaster," Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, said in Beijing on Sunday.

The plane arrived in Beijing on Saturday morning and all passengers and crew were safe, he said.

The suspects are now in custody in Lanzhou.

An initial inquiry found there are "serious loopholes" in the security systems and the work of staff at Xinjiang airport, making it possible for the two suspects to bring fuel onto the plane.

Some secessionists in Xinjiang planned to sabotage the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August, according to Wang Lequan, Party chief of Xinjiang.

Wang said on Sunday that "terrorists, saboteurs and secessionists" will be shown no mercy "no matter what ethnic group they are from."

Two terrorists were killed and 15 arrested in Xinjiang in January after they were found to be planning an attack on the Olympics, Wang said.