Chinese security forces have shot dead eight attackers who hurled homemade bombs at a police station in a province far away from Beijing.

The overnight violence was the second assault in less than a week in the mainly Muslim northwest region of Xinjiang.

Wang Wei, vice president of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, called the attacks the work of "East Turkistan terrorists".

He claimed they wanted "to use the Olympic stage to enlarge the impact."

Explosions shook the remote city of Kuqa after the assailants targeted the police station and a government office, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Two policemen and a security guard were injured in the bombings.

The violence comes a day after US tourist Todd Bachman, father of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth Bachman, was killed and his wife seriously injured following an attack at the Drum Tower, near the Forbidden City.

Beijing officials expressed their condolences to Mr Bachman's family as they prepared for an action-packed second day of competition.