China said yesterday it had crushed a gang of Muslim terrorists that plotted attacks in the wake of deadly ethnic violence in the northwestern region of Xinjiang last year.
Chinese Public Security Ministry spokesman Wu Heping (武和平) said the “hardcore terrorists” had assembled pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, knives and other weapons to carry out attacks in southern Xinjiang cities between July and October last year. The plot was discovered, and the gang members fled to different parts of China and overseas, he said.
Though Wu did not identify what countries they fled to, he said three were among a group deported to China in December. That same month, Cambodia repatriated 20 Uighurs it said had illegally entered the country, touching off an international outcry.
The announcement comes just before the anniversary of last year’s violence, in which long-simmering tensions between Turkic Muslim Uighurs and majority Han Chinese migrants turned deadly in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5.
Nearly 200 people died in the violence that Beijing claims was plotted by overseas Uighur activists.
Wu said authorities had arrested more than 10 members of the gang, which he alleged was linked to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a banned terrorist organization advocating independence for Xinjiang. Among those detained were the group’s co-ringleaders, who Wu said had carried out attacks around the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and traveled through China preaching religious extremism, recruiting members, raising cash and rehearsing attacks.
“The uncovering of this major terrorist group again proves that the ETIM and other terrorist organizations constitute the gravest terrorist threat that our nation faces at this present time and in the future,” Wu said at a media briefing.
China claims the ETIM is allied with al-Qaeda, although little is known about its organization or leadership.
During the briefing, several slides were displayed showing knives and what appeared to be pipe bombs made from black powder and ball-bearings. Another showed a minivan and four-wheel drive vehicle allegedly used by the gang, while a third showed a kitchen-like room described as a bomb factory in Xinjiang.
The seizures “firmly frustrated the terrorists’ sabotage plot and eliminated a potential threat to public security in a timely manner,” Wu said.
No dates were given for the arrests and no reason was given why the announcement was made now.
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