Monday, August 1, 2011

China blames terror camps in Pakistan

China on Monday blamed "extremists" trained in terror camps in Pakistan for orchestrating attacks on civilians in the troubled Xinjiang province, where 20 people, including alleged militants, were killed in violent incidents over two days.

While nine people were killed in a violent attack on Saturday, another 11, including five suspected militants, were killed in another attack on Sunday night.

The regional publicity department said in a statement that a "group of armed terrorists" broke into a restaurant in the city centre in Kashghar about 4 pm yesterday and killed the restaurant owner and a waiter besides setting fire it.

"They then ran out and hacked civilians indiscriminately, leaving four dead and 12 injured, while police and fire fighters were striving to put out the fire," it said.

Terming it a "premeditated terrorist attack", it said police opened fire and killed four suspects at the scene, while another suspect died later in hospital.

The area was cordoned off and traffic restrictions were imposed on major roads and squares.

A statement by the Kashgar municipal government said militants trained by the 'East Turkistan Islamic Movement' in Pakistan were responsible for the recent flare up in violence.

"A group of religious extremists led by culprits trained in overseas terrorist camps were behind the weekend attack on civilians in China's far-western Xinjiang," state run Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

 It said, "Initial probe has shown that the heads of the group had learned skills of making explosives and firearms in overseas camps of the terrorist group East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) in Pakistan before entering Xinjiang to organise terrorist activities."

The Xinjiang region witnessed massive riots in 2009, when almost 200 people were killed in its capital Urumqi, following which China launched a major crackdown againsUyghur Muslim separatists.

This is perhaps the first time that China has pointed fingers at its close ally Pakistan while referring to ETIM camps there. Xinjiang shares its borders with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and a lot of trade between China and Pakistan is routed through Kashghar as it is located close to the border.

The attacks resembled the 2009 riots and following up incidents in which Uyghurs had attacked Chinese Han settlers in Urumqi in what police called "a severely violent terrorism case" organised and premeditated by terrorist groups.
A crackdown ensued by security forces on ETIM, which China accuses of fomenting trouble in the region, besides Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer, who lives in US in exile.

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