Gun battle and bombing have started this weekend’s Olympic Games in China. Authorities believe that the attack that ended with 8 deaths in western China was an attempt made by the Islamic separatist group to arrest the global attention from the Olympic Games held in Beijing.

The attack took place in Kuqa, a city in the Xinjiang region, in western China, where the police shot seven militants. A security guard was also killed and two police cars were destroyed in the ambuscade.

The attackers were driving a tricycle full of explosives. They took the tricycle into the yard of the police station and wounded two officers. The attack came a week after the city of Xinjiang was the witness of another attack on Chinese security personnel.

It seems that the two attacks were made by three separatist groups who desire to create an “East Turkistan” for the Muslim Uighurs in the region. Police had evidence that their speculation was true.

A group that was called the Turkistan Islamic party sent a video through which they are threatening to attack buses, trains during the Olympic Games. Wang Wei, the vice president of the games’ organizing committee said that he didn’t believe that the games will be affected by the attacks.

The apparently random murder on Saturday of the father-in-law of the U.S. men’s volleyball coach remained a mystery though. Todd Bachman was stabbed and his wife Barbara together with a Chinese guide were seriously injured. The murderer killed himself after the attack.

His reasons to have committed such a crime are unknown. He had no criminal records.