Citizens' manual offers responses to terrorist attacks

China's national counterterrorism office issued a citizens' anti-terrorism manual on Tuesday - the first of this kind - in Beijing, Shanghai, Henan and Guangdong provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, launching a "people's war against terrorism" as proposed by Guo Shengkun, minister of public security.

Using text and cartoons, the manual offers instructions on 42 topics such as "What to do after being abducted by terrorists" and "What to do if a gunfight breaks out in the subway". It tells ordinary people how to protect themselves from terrorists.

At a ceremony during which the manual was distributed in front of the Sogo mall in Beijing, a demonstration was held to show how to deal with a terrorist. A Special Weapons and Tactics agent waved a kitchen knife at another agent in a mock attack.