According to Xinjiang police, attacks in which hundreds of individuals claim to have been stabbed with hypodermic needles began on 17 August.[1][2] On 2 September, posters appeared around Ürümqi saying that 418 people had reported being stabbed or pricked, referring to the attacks as a "serious terrorist crime", although the government had so far not produced evidence of any terrorist link. Ürümqi authorities said that fewer than one in five of reported stabbings had left any obvious mark.[3] A six-person People's Liberation Army medical review panel announced at a press conference: "In the patients we have seen in the last couple of days, there are many which we believe were not actually punctured with needles," They believed the false reports were due to widespread fear and lack of medical knowledge.[4] According to state media, witnesses say those who had been attacked include Hans and Uyghurs,[5] although the BBC said Hans claimed that they were being targeted.[6]