URUMQI: Security forces said yesterday raids, which ended late last month, broke up a terrorist bomb-making operation in Xinjiang in Northwest China.

The six alleged terrorists taken into custody during the pre-Aug 26 swoops were hoping to ramp up violence and panic in the troubled region by carrying out suicide bombings and other outrages, police said yesterday.

Investigators uncovered a large cache of bomb-making material when they conducted operations in Aksu, in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said a notice posted on the Ministry of Public Security website yesterday.