Another Uzbek official, Sergei Voynov, admitted to carrying a performance-enhancing human growth hormone because he claimed he needed the drug because of a personal illness. More than two thousand army and air force personnel are taking part in international anti-terrorism exercises being held in Kazakhstan. The maneuvers will include raids on mock terrorist bases and involve troops from several ex-Soviet and Western states. Kazakhstan said it was hosting the US-financed event to demonstrate its interest in strengthening the fight against terrorism. A truck carrying explosives has exploded as it traveled through the suburbs of the of Urumchi, Xinjiang killing 60 people and injuring More than 300 people.
Explosives are widely available for construction in China and accidents are common.
Local militants have been struggling to establish an independent state that Chinese authorities have tried hard to suppress. The region has been rocked by riots, bombings and assassinations against the Chinese authorities and ethnic Chinese immigrants since 1996, but so far there is nothing to link the militants to the latest explosion. September 6 Interior ministers from twelve former Soviet states are continuing their meetings in Kyrgyzstan to discuss a joint program aimed at fighting terrorism. The talks in the resort town of Cholpon-Ata are taking place amid a series of incursions by Islamic fighters into southern Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The ministers from the Commonwealth of Independent States were also expected to sign an agreement on the repatriation of juvenile criminals.