ID :
129544
Fri, 06/25/2010 - 00:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/129544
The shortlink copeid
China arrests 10 'terrorists' in Xinjiang+
BEIJING, June 24 Kyodo -
Just ahead of the one-year anniversary of last July's ethnic unrest in the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, China claimed Thursday to have arrested more
than 10 members of a ''major terrorist group'' planning attacks in the restive
region, including the group's top leaders.
Wu Heping, a spokesman for the Public Security Ministry, told reporters that
police also seized explosives and equipment in the crackdown.
The arrests ''effectively defeated a destructive plot and removed social
security problems in a timely manner,'' Wu said at a press briefing.
He claimed the group had since 2008 been planning and carrying out numerous
terrorist plots in Xinjiang, including an attack on border police in Kashgar
just days before the start of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008 that state
media said killed 17 people.
He said they were also behind a series of bombings days later in Xinjiang's
Kuqa county that killed two civilians.
Wu said that from July to October 2009, the group assembled homemade bombs,
Molotov cocktails and knives for a planned series of large scale attacks in
Xinjiang cities, including Kashgar, Aksu and Hotan.
After police uncovered the plot, some of the group's central members fled to
Chinese provinces, including Guangdong and Yunnan in the south.
Some fled through China's southwest border and while on the run, received
assistance from the ''East Turkestan'' group.
Three members of the group were caught after they were expelled with 17 other
Chinese nationals for illegal entry by an unnamed country while trying to flee
in December last year, he said.
It is unclear if the three were among 20 Uyghurs deported by Cambodia to China
on Dec. 19 last year, just before the arrival of Chinese Vice President Xi
Jinping on an official visit.
Cambodia expelled the Uyghurs even though the Office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the
U.S. State Department had urged Cambodia to follow international rules and make
sure the Uyghurs would not face torture or other abuses in China.
Xi arrived in Phnom Penh on Dec. 20 and, among other things, pledged $1.2
billion in new aid to Cambodia.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press briefing
declined to say if the Uyghurs were among those expelled by Cambodia, but said that
China has stepped up bilateral cooperation on counter-terrorism efforts in recent
years.
Qin said the ''three forces'' -- referring to extremism, separatism and
terrorism -- have been rampant in recent years, threatening regional security.
''The international community, especially relevant countries in the region,
have a high degree of consensus on striking out terrorism including the East
Turkestan,'' Qin added. ''We hope to further strengthen this area of
cooperation.''
During the Public Security ministry's press briefing on Thursday, the Chinese
authorities showed slides of some of the suspects and explosives to reporters.
''The breaking up of this major terrorist ring proves once again that the East
Turkestan Islamic Movement and other terrorist groups are the main terrorist
threat facing China right now and for some time after,'' Wu said.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement is a militant Islamic separatist group
founded by Uyghurs that seeks to establish an independent state in Xinjiang
called East Turkestan, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.
think tank.
Together with other separatist groups, it has been blamed by China for more
than 200 terror attacks since 1990.
In the violent riots that claimed close to 200 lives in the restive ethnic
minority region last July, Chinese authorities laid the blame for the unrest on
''overseas separatists,'' in particular Rebiya Kadeer, an Uyghur rights
activist now living in the United States.
China's ethnic majority is Han Chinese, but the Uyghur ethnic minority makes up
the majority ethnic group in Xinjiang.
Uyghur rights activists accuse China of discriminatory policies against the
Uyghurs' religion, culture and language and say these have led to a build-up of
ethnic tensions.
==Kyodo
Just ahead of the one-year anniversary of last July's ethnic unrest in the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, China claimed Thursday to have arrested more
than 10 members of a ''major terrorist group'' planning attacks in the restive
region, including the group's top leaders.
Wu Heping, a spokesman for the Public Security Ministry, told reporters that
police also seized explosives and equipment in the crackdown.
The arrests ''effectively defeated a destructive plot and removed social
security problems in a timely manner,'' Wu said at a press briefing.
He claimed the group had since 2008 been planning and carrying out numerous
terrorist plots in Xinjiang, including an attack on border police in Kashgar
just days before the start of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008 that state
media said killed 17 people.
He said they were also behind a series of bombings days later in Xinjiang's
Kuqa county that killed two civilians.
Wu said that from July to October 2009, the group assembled homemade bombs,
Molotov cocktails and knives for a planned series of large scale attacks in
Xinjiang cities, including Kashgar, Aksu and Hotan.
After police uncovered the plot, some of the group's central members fled to
Chinese provinces, including Guangdong and Yunnan in the south.
Some fled through China's southwest border and while on the run, received
assistance from the ''East Turkestan'' group.
Three members of the group were caught after they were expelled with 17 other
Chinese nationals for illegal entry by an unnamed country while trying to flee
in December last year, he said.
It is unclear if the three were among 20 Uyghurs deported by Cambodia to China
on Dec. 19 last year, just before the arrival of Chinese Vice President Xi
Jinping on an official visit.
Cambodia expelled the Uyghurs even though the Office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the
U.S. State Department had urged Cambodia to follow international rules and make
sure the Uyghurs would not face torture or other abuses in China.
Xi arrived in Phnom Penh on Dec. 20 and, among other things, pledged $1.2
billion in new aid to Cambodia.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press briefing
declined to say if the Uyghurs were among those expelled by Cambodia, but said that
China has stepped up bilateral cooperation on counter-terrorism efforts in recent
years.
Qin said the ''three forces'' -- referring to extremism, separatism and
terrorism -- have been rampant in recent years, threatening regional security.
''The international community, especially relevant countries in the region,
have a high degree of consensus on striking out terrorism including the East
Turkestan,'' Qin added. ''We hope to further strengthen this area of
cooperation.''
During the Public Security ministry's press briefing on Thursday, the Chinese
authorities showed slides of some of the suspects and explosives to reporters.
''The breaking up of this major terrorist ring proves once again that the East
Turkestan Islamic Movement and other terrorist groups are the main terrorist
threat facing China right now and for some time after,'' Wu said.
The East Turkestan Islamic Movement is a militant Islamic separatist group
founded by Uyghurs that seeks to establish an independent state in Xinjiang
called East Turkestan, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.
think tank.
Together with other separatist groups, it has been blamed by China for more
than 200 terror attacks since 1990.
In the violent riots that claimed close to 200 lives in the restive ethnic
minority region last July, Chinese authorities laid the blame for the unrest on
''overseas separatists,'' in particular Rebiya Kadeer, an Uyghur rights
activist now living in the United States.
China's ethnic majority is Han Chinese, but the Uyghur ethnic minority makes up
the majority ethnic group in Xinjiang.
Uyghur rights activists accuse China of discriminatory policies against the
Uyghurs' religion, culture and language and say these have led to a build-up of
ethnic tensions.
==Kyodo
