A confrontation involving axes, knives, at least one gun and ending with the burning down of a house left 21 people dead in China’s troubled far-west region of Xinjiang, a government spokeswoman said yesterday, calling it a “terrorist attack.”
It was the deadliest violence in the region since July 2009, when Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, was rocked by clashes between majority Han Chinese and minority Uighurs that killed nearly 200 people.
Nine residents, six police and six ethnic Uighurs were killed, Xinjiang government spokeswoman Hou Hanmin (侯漢敏) said.
It was not immediately clear how many people burnt to death.
Hou did not name any group, but China has blamed previous attacks in energy-rich Xinjiang — strategically located on the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia — on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent East Turkestan.
Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to Xinjiang, chafe at Chinese controls on their religion, language and culture.
Three “community workers” were patrolling a neighborhood of Bachu County, known as Maralbexi by Uighurs, in Kashgar after a tip-off that there were “suspicious people” in a private house, Hou said.
One of the three telephoned for help after they found a number of knives, resulting in them being killed by 14 Uighur “rioters” in the house, Hou said.
“The community workers were just conducting regular checks, but the action from the rioters was planned and well prepared,” Hou said. “It’s certainly a terrorist attack.”
Several police and other “community workers” went in different groups to the home where the Uighurs used axes and large knives to slash the police officers and workers, Hou said.
Only one police officer was armed with a gun, she said.
The battle ended with the Uighurs burning down the house, killing the rest of the people there, Hou said.
Eight people had been detained, she said.
A number of Chinese officials blame such attacks on Muslim militants trained in Pakistan. However, many rights groups say China overstates the threat to justify its tight grip on the region.
Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress, said the violence was sparked by the shooting and killing of a young Uighur by “Chinese armed personnel,” prompting the Uighurs to retaliate.
“The information that we’ve received is that from last night till this morning, the authorities have flooded the streets with armed men,” Dilxat Raxit said by telephone from Sweden, where he is based. “After the incident, the locals’ mobile phone and Internet connections were cut off. Today, it has recovered slightly, though not completely.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said the “violent terrorist acts” would not win popular support.
“The current situation in Xinjiang is good, but a small group of terrorist forces is still trying every possible means to disturb and destroy the present stability and trend of development in Xinjiang,” Hua told reporters.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS