Chinese Plane Lands After Passenger Warns of Bomb

BEIJING -- State media say a Chinese airliner flying from Beijing to the restive western city of Urumqi has made an emergency landing after a passenger said there was a bomb on board and threatened to blow up the plane.

The Xinhua News Agency says the China United Airlines flight landed in the northwestern city of Jiayuguan on Thursday afternoon and police detained the female passenger.

It says officers were searching the plane, but did not specify whether a bomb was found or whether the passenger made any demands.

Such incidents have been rare in recent years following an increase in security. In 2008, a woman allegedly attempted to set a plane on fire during a flight from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

Ethnic riots there two years ago killed at least 197 people.