[ETIC 5/2/98] journalist Abdul Pamir reported a blood shed on January 26 at Eastern Turkistan Pishan county Karatas state farm: Three masked gun men suddenly opened fire to Chinese, killed 27 and injured many. After this event Chinese troops and armed police, aided by three militry helicopters, started a large scale hunting, but was in vain. This gave Chinese authorities an excuse to seal all the passages, ports in Eastern Turkistan. Apart from government officials, nobody was allowed to enter or leave Eastern Turkistan.