Suspected Muslim separatists with home-made bombs and knives killed 16 police in western China yesterday, state media said, reporting one of the worst attacks by militants on Chinese soil just four days before the Olympics.

The attack, which occurred about 4,000 km from the capital in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, was a reminder of internal tensions in China, especially in its ethnically mixed and largely Muslim west.

Police, who had previously warned ethnic Uighur separatists had been planning attacks in the run-up to the Games, said they had arrested two attackers and identified them as Uighurs.

China?s President Hu Jintao told a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) the Games would display the desire of the world?s most populous country to join with the rest of the planet in ?building a bright future?.

The Beijing Organising Committee of the Games said it was sure athletes and spectators would be safe, while the IOC also reassured millions of visitors and more than 10,000 athletes taking part in what it called a ?landmark event?. ?The IOC is confident the Chinese authorities have done everything possible to ensure the security and safety of everyone at the Games,? it said in a statement.

About 100,000 police and soldiers are on standby ahead of Friday?s opening ceremony, and security has already been stepped up in Tiananmen Square, scene of pro-democracy protests in 1989, with all visitors? bags being screened.

There is a strong sense of excitement in the Beijing, but the number of foreign visitors has been disappointing. Hotels said they were slashing room prices by as much as half because reservations have fallen far short of expectations.

People are thought to have shied away because of visa restrictions and bad publicity about China. Thousands more fans had their hopes of coming dashed after being swindled by an international Internet scam offering bogus tickets.

The IOC said it was taking action to shut down the fraudsters, but it was too late to help victims from the United States, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Norway and Britain, including relatives of some athletes.

Drastic anti-pollution measures

The IOC said it had filed a lawsuit in California against six Web sites last Friday, but a US lawyer who said he had lost $12,000 in the scam accused Olympic officials of complacency. ?They have known about these sites for months and months and did nothing,? said Jim Moriarty, partner of a Houston-based law firm which is looking to represent fellow victims.

Those who have arrived were disappointed to find Beijing?s pollution-fuelled haze back yesterday after three rare blue-sky days, although the government said air quality was fairly good.

The Communist government says drastic anti-pollution measures ? like ordering nearly 2 million of the city?s cars off the road and closing smoke-belching factories ? have helped.